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THEOUGH PEESIA 




BY carava: 



By ARTHUR ARNOLD, 

AUTHOR OF "from THE LEVANJ," ETC. 




NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 

1877. 



..vJ 






6*^ 



"^ 



t9 tauaaifi 

JUL 30 1915 



Snscribeb 



TO THE 



EARL AND COUNTESS GRANVILLE. 




•*-^eM\ 



RECEIVED. ^«^ 



:*- €SgrX 



PREFACE. 



DuEiNG the summer of 1875, my wife and I left London, 
iiitendino; to travel thronoh Kussia and Persia. In the fol- 
lowing chapters I have transcribed our notes, commencing 
at Warsaw. From Poland we passed to St. Petersburg, 
and from the Russian capital southward to Astrakhan. We 
traversed the Caspian Sea from extreme north to south, and, 
landing at Enzelli, rode through the whole length of Persia 
— a distance of more than a thousand miles. Leaving the 
Caspian Sea early in October, we arrived at the Persian Gulf 
in February. In March we were in Bombay; in April at 
Alexandria. 

Had I chosen a Persian title for these notes of travel, I 
would have taken "Zil-ullah," w^hich is assumed by the two 
great sovereigns of the Mohammedan world. IsTazr-ed-deen, 
Kajar, Shah of Persia, and Abd-ul-Hamid, Sultan of Turkey, 
are styled, in the high official language of their own coun- 
tries, ''Zil-ullah" (Shadow^s of God). In Christendom there 
is one sovereign, and only one, the Tsar, upon whom is im- 
posed the awful burden of representing the ideal of wisdom, 
justice, mercy, and goodness. 



6 PREFACE. ■ 

Civilization — the extension of civil rights — has taught 
the , Western world to look with some contempt upon 
this assumption of supernatural dignity. It is a preten- 
sion which is doomed to fade away, and to become extinct. 
It dies unlamented, because it lives by force — by with- 
holding from mankind, or, at best, by holding in trust for 
mankind, 'their birthright of liberty and responsibility; nev- 
er deigning to admit that the sources of its power are other 

than divine. 

A. A. 



^ «eceiveo."*« 

CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

The Vistula.— Warsaw.— French Sympathies.— Partition of Poland.— Pass- 
port and Local Kegulations. — The Tliree Imperial Courts. — The Turkish 
Capitulations.— The Ideal Pole.— The Real Pole.— Religion in Poland.— 
Hotel d'Europe.— Statue of John Sobieski.— Lazienski Palace.— Russian 
Government. — Napoleon at Warsaw. — Grodno. — Wilna. — " Tronfolger's 
Namstag" Rage 17 

CHAPTER II. 

Russian Railway Carriages. — Russian Ventilation. — Dunaburg. — White 
Sand.— Droschky Tickets.— St. Petersburg.— Exaggerated Praise.— New- 
ski Prospekt.— The Hermitage.— Winter Palace.— St. Isaac's Church.— 
The Old Cathedral.— Tombs of the Romanoffs.- Down the Neva.— Cron- 
stadt. — Droschky-driving. — The Gostinnoi Dvor. — The Kazan Church. — 
The Russian Language. — The Road to Moscow 29 

CHAPTER IIL 

Moscow. — The Native Capital of Russia. — The Kitai-Gorod. — Lubianka 
Street.— The Kremlin. — The Holy Gate. — The Redeemer of Smolensk. — 
Bell-tower of Ivan. — Church Bells.— Church of the Assumption. — Dean 
Stanley's Description.— The Coronation Platform.— The Virgin of Vladi- 
mir. — Corner Tombs. — The Young Demetrius. — John the Terrible. — The 
Tsar Kolokol.— The Foundling Hospital.— Nurses and Babies.— "Nes 
avant Terme." — Moral and Social Results. — Cathedral of St. Basil.— 
John the Idiot.— The Lobnoe Mesto.— Iverskaya Chasovnia.— How the 
Metropolitan is paid. — Virgin from Mount Athos. — Tsar and Patriarch. 
— Motto from Troitsa 3G 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Road to Nijni.— Rivers Oka and Volga.— Nijni.— The Bridge of Boats. 



8 CONTENTS. 

— The Heights of Nijni. — Lopachef's Hotel. — A Famous Landscape. — 
Prisoners for Siberia.— Their Wives and Children. — The Great Fair. — 
The Last Bargains. — Caravan Tea. — Persian Merchants. — Buildings of 
the Fair. — GloA'es and Furs. — Russian Tea-dealers. — Mosque at Nijni, — 
Sliows and Theatres. — Russia vs. Free Trade. — Russian Hardware. — Ar- 
ticles de Paris.— Melons and Grapes. — The Governor's Palace. — Pictur- 
esque Nijni Page 50 

CHAPTER Y. 

Leaving Nijni. — The Isarevna Marie. — Tickets for Two Thousand Miles. — 
Our Fellow-passengers. — The Alexander II. — Kazan. — Mohammedans in 
Russia. — Our Lady of Kazan. — "No Sheets!" — Oriental Cleanliness. — 
Prussian Climate and Clothing. — Orientalism in Russia. — Persian Prayers. 
— A Shi'ah's Devotions. — Shallowness of the Volga. — The River Kama. 
— Hills about Simbirsk. — Samara. — Mare's-milk Cure. — Volsk. — Saratof. 
— Tartar Population. — Prisoners for the Caucasus Tsaritzin. — Sarepta. — 
Gingerbread and Mustard. — Chorney Yar. — A Peasant Mayor. — Tartar 
Fishermen. — Astrakhan. — Mouths of the Volga. — Raising Level of the 
Caspian 63 

CHAPTER VL 

Louis XIV. and the Tsar. — Russian Church and State. — Empress Anne's 
Buffoon. — Prayers for the Tsar. — The Russian Press. — Censorship. — 
Press Regulations. — The Moscow' Gazette. — Difficulties of Journalists. 
— The Wjedomosti. — The Russki Mir. — Russia not Russian. — Foreign 
Races. — New Military System. — The Emancipation of the Serfs. — The 
Communal System. — Bad Farming. — Ignorance of the Peasantry. — The 
Corn Trade. — Complaints from Odessa. — Resurrection of Sebastopol. — 
Corn from Russia and the United States. — The Artel of Odessa. — De- 
mands of Odessa Merchants. — A Viceroy w^anted. — English Interests in 
Russian Corn. — The Soil of Russia. — The Conquests of Russia. — Contrast 
with Persia. — Borrowed Money. — Unprofitable Railways. — Revenue of 
Russia. — Produce of Poll-tax. — Privileged Citizens 80 

CHAPTER VIL 

The Delta of the Volga. — Persian Passengers. — The Constaniine. — Pe- 
trovsk. — Derbent. — "Le Feu l^ternel." — Persian Merchandise. — Persian 
Clothing. — A Colored Deck-load. — Russian Trio of Spirits. — "Un Knut 
Russe." — Baku, — "Dominique." — Dust of Baku. — The Khan of Baku. — 
The Maiden's Tower.— Russian Naval Station. — Petrolia in Asia. — Baku 



CONTENTS. 9 

Oil-carts. — The Petroleum Wells. — Kalafy Company. — Eire-worship. — 
Parsees and Persians. — The Indian Priest. — The Surakhani Temple. — 
Manufiicture of Petroleum Page 99 

CHAPTER VI 1 1. 

Bathing in the Caspian.— The Way to Europe.— A Tarantas.— The Baku 
Club. — Mihailovski Gardens. — Leaving Baku. — Lenkoran. — Astara. — 
Petroleum on Deck. — Enzelli. — Persian Boatmen. — Mr. Consul Church- 
ill, C.B. — Enzelli Custom-house. — Sadr Azem's Konak. — The Shah's 
Yacht, — Lake of Enzelli. — Peri-bazaar. — Province of Ghilan. — Eesht. — 
Bazaar and "Gieen." — Women of Persia. — Their Street Costume.— 
Shopping in Bazaar. — Riding in Persia. — Chapar and Caravan. ^Kerja- 
vas. — A Takht-i-rawan. — Leaving Resht. — Charvodars and Gholams. — 
Lucky and Unlucky Days.— Whips of Iron.—" UUah."— The Bell Mule. 
— Houssein Mounted. — The First Station. — Our Camp Kitchen. — A Mud 

Hovel ; iia 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Month Ramadan, — Mohammed's First Wife. — Ramadan in the Koran. 
— The Nocturnal Kalian. — Loading Up. — A Persian Landlord. — Persian 
Money : Tomans, Krans, and Shihees. — Counting Money. — Persian Mints. 
-^Rich Provinces. — Kudem. — Chapar-khanah. — Bala-khanah. — Con- 
structed to Smoke. — Caravanserais. — Unfurnished Apartments. — Our 
Bell-mule, — A Traveled Khan, — The Safid-Rud. — Rustemabad. — Village 
of Rhudbar. — Parchenar. — Khan offers his Tree, — A Night in the Open. 
—Mistaken for aThief.— "The Bells !"— Camels in the Path 132 

CHAPTER X. 

How Hills are Made. — Kharzan. — Mazara, — A Persian Village. — John 
Milton and Casbeen. — The Plain of Kasveen. — The Mirage. — Gardens of 
Kasveen.— Dervishes. — Decay of Kasveen. — A Persian Town. — Women 
of Kasveen. — Persian Costumes.— "Allahu Akbar." — Mosque of Kasveen. 
— Telegram from Teheran. — Visit to the Khan. — His Love Affairs. — 
Lost in Kasveen, — Abdulabad,— An Alarm and an Arrival. — " Gosro- 
zink," — Native Plows,— On to Karij,— Lodged in the Shah's Palace.— 
The Imperial Saloon. — An Imperial Bedroom. — Approach to Teheran. — 
Population of the Capital,— The Kasveen Gate,— Mud Houses and Walls, 
—The Imperial Theatre.— Entrance to the "Arg."— Neglect of Public 

- Works. — British Legation, — Mirza Houssein Khan. — Teheran Bazaar. — 

Caravanserai Ameer ...148 

1* 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER Xr. 

Teheran. — Street of the Foreign Envoys. — The British Minister. — Lanterns 
of Ceremony. — The EngUsh in Telieran. — The Shah's Palace. — Mirza 
Houssein Khan. — The Sipar Sahn-. — An Oriental Minister. — Persian Cor- 
ruption. — Mirza Houssein Khan's Policy. — His Retinue. — Brigandage in 
Persia, — Saloon of Audience. — The Jeweled Globe. — The Shah's Throne. 
— The Old Hall. — Persians and the Alhambra. — The Shah receiving 
Homage. — Rustem and the White Devil. — Reports in Teheran. — The 
English Courier. — Character of Persian Government. — The Green Draw- 
ing-room. — The Shah's Album. — Persians and Patriots. — The Shah's 
Jewels.— The "Sea of Light" Page 168 

CHAPTER XIL 

The Shah. — The Kajar Dynasty. — Boxes of Justice. — Persian Soldiers. — 
Their Drill and Pay. — Military Supper in Ramadan. — Jehungur Khan. — 
The Shah's Presents. — Zoological Garden. — View from Teheran. — Dema- 
vend. — Persian Fever. — Persian Honesty. — Europeans and Persians. — 
Caps and Galoches. — A Paper War. — The Ottoman Embassy. — A British 
Complaint. — A Turkish Atrocity. — Persian Window Law. — English in 
Bazaars. — The Indo-European Telegraph Stations in Persia. — The En- 
glish Clergyman in Persia 183 

CHAPTER XIIL 

Teheran. — Snow in November.— Our Servant, Kazem. — Getting a Takht-i- 
rawan. — Abdullah, the Carpenter. — Preparing for the Road. — A Charvo- 
dar's "Beard." — Black Monday. — Trying the Takht-i-rawan. — Loading 
the Caravan. — Servant's Merchandise. — ^^ Zood! Zood .'" — Leaving Tehe- 
ran.— The Road to Ispahan. — Seeing the Khanoum. — Shah Abd-ul-Azim. 
— Moollahs on the Road. — On to Kinaragird. — The Great Salt Desert. — 
Pul-i-delak. — A Salt River. — A Negro Dervish. — Salt-water Soup. — A 
Windy Lodging 195 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Koom. — Approach to the Holy City. — The Golden Dome. — Koom Bazaar. 
— The Governor's Procession. — The Itizad-el-Dowleh. — Mirza Teki 
Khan. — Disgraced by the Shah. — Order for his Assassination. — The 
Shah's Contrition. — A Visit to the Governor. — A Coat of Honor. — 
Pipes of Ceremony. — Mesjid-i-Juma. — Tomb of Feth-Ali-Shah. — The 
Shrine of Fatima. — A Pretended Pilgrim. — Reception at the Mosque. — 



CONTENTS. 1 1 

Not allowed to Enter. — A Temperance City. — Takht-i-rawan in Bazaar. 
— The Koad to Sin-sin. — View from the Chapar-khanah Page 208 

CHAPTER XV. 

Kashan. — Visit to the Governor. — Kashan Bazaar. — The Governor's House. 
— The Governor on Railways. — Tea, Pipes, and Sherbet. — A Ride round 
Kashan. — A House pulled down. — Present fiom the Governor. — Presents 
from Servants. — Manna. — Leaving Kashan. — Gabrabad. — Up the Mount- 
ains. — A Robber Haunt. — Kuhrud. — In the Snow. — A Persian Interior. 
— A Welcome Visitor. — Kazem as a Cook. — The Takht-i-rawan Frozen. 
— Pass of Kuhrud. — Soh. — "The Blue Man.'' — Beauties of the Road. — 
Province of Ispahan. — Moot-i-Khoor. — Ispahan Melons. — Village of 
Gez 222 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Ispahan. — Approach by Road. — Suburbs of Ispahan. — A Ragged Bazaar. — 
Departed Greatness. — The Grand Avenue. — The Great Madrassee, — 
Eiver Zayinderud. — Pipes on the Bridge. — Djulfa-by-Ispahan. — Russia 
and the Armenians. — Gate of Djulfa. — The English Missionary. — Mr. 
Bruce's House. — Armenian Women. — The British Agent. — Church Mis- 
sionary School. — Armenian Priests. — Enemies of the School. — Visit to 
the Governor. — The Prince's Carriage. — "The Forty Columns." — The 
Prince's Anderoon. — The Shah's Eldest Son. — His Estimate of the 
Army. — Zil-i-Sultan. — His Hope and Fears. — His Court at Ispahan. — 
His Carte-de-Visite. — The Princess's Costume 238 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Zil-i-Sultan. — Order about the School. — Not Responsible for Murder. 
— Telegraph to Teheran. — Reports and Rumors. — Excitement in Djulfa. 
— Closing the British School. — Relapse of Fever. — Letter from the Prince. 
— Persian Compliments. — Prescriptions by Telegraphs. — A Persian Doc- 
tor. — Persian Medical Treatment. — Persian Leeches. — The Prince's Ha- 
kim. — His Letter of Introduction. — His Newspaper and Autobiography. 
—The Prince and the Province.— A Son of a Moollah.— "The Sticks." 
— How Punishment is Given. — A Snow Torture. — A Persian Dinner- 
party. — Before Dinner. — An Englishman's Legs. — A Great Klian. — The 
First Course. — Les Pieces de Resistance. — Going Home 256 

CHAPTER XVIIL 
Ispahan. — Zil-i-Sultan and the British School. — Church Missionary Society. 



12 CONTENTS. 

— ^The "Crown of Islam." — A Ride tlirough Ispahan. — The Meidun.— 
Runaway Horses m Bazaar. — "Embassador Lilies." — New-year's-eve. — 
Severe Cold, — Sufferings of the Poor. — A Supper in Ispahan. — Kerbela 
and Nedjif. — Houssein and Ali, — Imam Juma's Court. — Confiscation of 
Christians' Property. — Bab and Babis. — Execution of Bab.— Attempted 
Assassination of the Shah. — Punishment of the Conspirators, — Revenge 
of the Koran. — Bab and Behar. — The Followers of Behar ..Page 271 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Getting out of Persia. — Northern and Southern Roads. — Advantage of Rus- 
sia. — Russian Goods in Persia. — English Interests in Persia. — Mr, Mac- 
kenzie's Plan. — Navigation of the Karun River.^Erom Ispahan to Shus- 
ter, — A Subsidy required. — Price of Wheat. — East India Company's 
Surve3^ — Letter to Lord Derby. — Baron Reuter's Concession. — Traffic 
in Persia. — Mules and Railways. — Difficulties of Construction. — Inter- 
course between Towns. — Estimates of Population. — Traveling in Persia. 
— Mountain Scenery. — Plains covered Avith Snow. — Persia and "The Ara- 
bian Nights." — No Old Men. — The Lady and the House, — The Greatest 
Power in Persia 281 

CHAPTER XX. 

Leaving Ispahan. — "The Farewell" Hill. — Opium Manufacture. — The Tel- 
egraph Superintendent, — Punishing a Servant. — Khadji Josef's Tea-part}-. 
— Marg. — Kum-i-Shah, — The Baggage lost, — Neither Ispahan nor Shiraz. 
— Ahminabad. — English Doctor robbed, — Doubt and Danger, — Yezdik- 
hast, — A Vaulted Chamber, — A Black Vault. — Telegram from Shiraz.— 
The Abadeh Istikbal. — A Traveling Pipe. — Display of Horsemanship. — 
Abadeh. — The Governor's Present. — Bread from Teheran. — Letter from 
Abadeh. — An 111 -looking Escort. — Khanikora. — Miserable Lodging, — 
Soldiers refuse to March. — Up the Mountains, — Houssein Khan. — Deh- 
bid. — Shooting Foxes, — Khanikergan, — Meshed - i -Murghaub, — Robbers 

- about. — Persian Justice. — Tofanghees 292 

CHAPTER XXL 

Classic Persia, — The Tomb of Cyrus. — Date of the Ruins, — Passargardas, — 
Columns of Cyrus's Tomb, — Color of Ruins, — Neglected by Persians, 
— Kawamabad, — Takht-i-rawan in Danger, — Houssein Khan and the 
Sheep, — Village of Sidoon, — Ruins of Istakr, — Situation of Persepolis. — 
Araxes or Bendemeer. — Staircase at Persepolis. — Darius and Xerxes, — 

. Cuneiform Inscriptions. — Study of Cuneiform..— Cin-onology of Assyria. — 



CONTENTS. 1 3 

Great Hall of Xerxes. — The Persepolitan Lion. — Hall of a Hundred Col- 
umns. — Professor llawlinson on the Ruins. — Tomb of Darius. — "The 
Great God Ormazd." — The Bringer of Evil. — Dios and Devils. — Errors 
in Religion and Art. — Pedigree of Architecture. — Persians, Medes, and 
Greeks, — Origin of Ionic Architecture. — Leaving Persepolis. — Plain of 
Merodasht Page 3U 

CHAPTER XXIL 

Kinara. — A Family House. — A Troublesome Cat. — Houssein Khan and the 
Sheep. — Soldiers and their Debtors. — Zergaii. — Persian Scenery. — A Per- 
sian Funeral. — Zergan to Shiraz. — Pass of Allahu Akbar. — Snow-storm at 
Shiraz. — The English Doctor. — Gate of Shiraz. — AGood Persian House. — 
A Present from Firman Firma. — Letter from His Excellency. — A Der- 
vish at the Gate. — Meidan of Shiraz. — Visit to Firman Firma. — Widow 
of Teki Khan.- — Firman Firma's Character. — Poverty of Persia.— Passion- 
play in Mohurrem. — Bazaar of Shiraz. — Tomb of Hafiz. — Odes inscrihed 
on Tomb. — Translation of Hafiz. — The New Garden. — Tea in an Ima- 

. ret 334 

^ CHAPTER XXIIL 

Literature of Persia. — Hafiz and Sa'di. — Contemporary of Dante. — Mr. 
BicknelFs Translation of Hafiz. — Consulting Hafiz as an ()i-acle. — Nadir 
Shah and Hafiz. — Hafiz's Fragments.— " Tetrastichs " of Hafiz. — Sa'di's 

. "Bustan."—Sa'di's "Gulistan." — Extracts from " Gulistan." — Sa'di's 
"Wit and Wisdom. — Gardens of Shiraz. — Slaves and Slave-brokers. — En- 
glish Surgeons and Persian Patients. — Influence of Russia. — Mr. Thom- 
•son and Mr. Bruce. — Indo-Persian Telegraph. — Major Champain's Re- 
ports. — A View of the Neighbors. — Persian Homes. — Government of Shi- 
raz. — Eeliats in Ears. — Attack on a Caravan. — A Vengeful Government. 
— Cruel Execution of Robbers. — Firman Firma superseded. — Taxation 
in Persia. — The Shah and Shiraz 35ii 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Road to Bushire. — Yahia Khan's Portrait. — To Cinerada. — Last View 
of Shiraz. — Difficult Traveling. — Khan-i-Zonoon. — A Caravan in Trou- 
ble. — A Cold Caravanserai. — Murder of Sergeant Collins. — Death of Ser- 
geant M'Leod. — Advantage of an Escort. — Dashtiarjan. — " Eaten a Bul- 
let." — Plain of Dashtiarjan. — Ghooloo-Kojeh Pass. — A Lion in the Path. 
— Mr. Blanford's "Interview." — Up a Tree. — Wounded Horse. — Kaleh- 

- Mushir. — Mount Perizan. — Kotul Perizan. — View of Mian-kotuI 372 



14 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Mian - kotul Caravanserai. — Tofangbees on Guard. — Feuds between Vil- 
lagers. — Kotul Uocbter. — Traveling ontbe Kotul. — Tbe Musbir-el-Mulk. 
— Lake Eamoor, — Encampment of Eeliats. — Ruins of Ancient Persia. — ■ 
Plain of Kazeroon. — Songs of Persian Soldiers. — Kazeroon. — Anniversary 
of Houssein's Deatb. — "Ab, Houssein!" — Fanatical Exercises. — Orange 
Gardens. — Tbe Sbeik of Kazeroon. — Plain of Kazeroon. — Attack on Ma- 
jor Napier's Caravan. — Village of Kamaridj. — Plain of Kban-i-Takbte. — 
Hospitality in Persia. — Kotul Maloo. — A Difficult Patb. — Daliki River. — 
Arabs in Persia. — Palm-leaf Huts. — A Loop-boled Bedroom. — Petrole- 
um at Daliki. — Barasjoon. — Rifle Practice, — Indian Officers in Persia. — 
Functions of Political Resident. — Sowars from Busbire. — Caravanserai 
at Ahmedy. — Arrival of Captain Eraser. — Tbe Masbillab. — A Wet Day's 
Ride.— Busbire Page 387 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Busbire. — Tbe Residency. — Arab Towers and Wooden "Guns." — Govern- 
ment in Persian Gulf. — Tbe Arabian Sbore. — Arabs and Arabs. — Tbe 
Sultan's Power in Arabia. — Oman and tbe Ibadbis. — Pilgrims to Mecca. — 
Destiny of Rotten Steamsbips. — Pilgrims' Coffins. — Six Hundred Arabs 
Drowned. — Persian Land Revenue. — Collecting Customs Duties. — Trade 
and Population. — Commerce of Busbire. — Cultivation of Opium. — Opium 
and Cereals. — Export of Opium. — Britisb Expedition in 1857. — Occupa- 
tion of Persia. — Persian Army in 1857. — Interests of England. — Tbe 
Indo-Persian Telegrapb. — Persia Ripe for Conquest. — Persia and In- 
dia 406 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Tbe Province of Ears. — Memorandum by Colonel Ross. — Boundaries of 
Ears. — Government of Ears. — Six First-class Governments. — Tbe Dis- 
tricts of Busbire. — Karagasb River.— Eeliats. — Xomad Tribes of Ears. — 
Numbers of tlie Tribes. — Eel-Kbanee and Eel-Begee. — Cbief Routes in 
Ears. — Taxation and Revenue. — A Revenue Survey 421 

CHAPTER XXVI IL 

Britisb India Steam Navigation Company. — Crew of tbe Euphrates. — Pil- 
grims in Difficulty. — Streets of Busbire. — German Arcbceological Expe- 
dition. — Sermons in Bricks. — Leaving Busbire. — Slaveiy in tbe Persian 
Gulf. — Fugitive- slave Circulars. — Tbe Parsee Engineer's Evidence. — 



CONTENTS. 15 

Ships searched for Slaves. — Pearl-fisheries of Bahrein. — Anglo -Turkish 
Ideas. — Lingah in Laristan. — Bunder-Abbas. — Landing at Cape Jahsk. 
■ — "Pegs " and Pale Clerks. — A Master Mariner's Grievance. — The End 
of Persia. — Coast of Beloochistan. — Shooting Sleeping Turtles. — Harbor 
of Kurrachee. — Kurrachee Boat-wallahs. — The Orthodox Scinde Hat.— 
Faults of Indian Society. — English Ladies in India. — Intercourse Avith 
Natives. — Unmannerly Englishmen. — Exceptional Behavior Page 428 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Bombay. — The Serapis in Harbor. — Suburbs of Bombay. — Parsee Dead.— 
Towers of Silence. — Hindoo Cremation -ground. — Cotton Manufacture in 
India. — Report of Indian Commission. — Neglect of Indian Government. 
— A Bombay Cotton Pactory. — Hours of Factory Labor. — Seven Weeks' 
Work. — Natives of India. — Expenditure of Indian Government. — The 
Great Absentee Landlord. — Grievance of Cultivators. — Their Enemies, 
the Money-lenders. — English and Native Equity. — The Suez Canal. — 
Landing at Ismailia. — English at the Pyramids. — Alexandria. — "Cleo- 
patra's Needle." — Proposed Removal to England. — Condition of the Ob- 
elisk. — Recent Excavation. — Captain Methven's Plan. — Removal in an 
Iron Vessel. — Cost of Removal. — Egypt and the Khedive. — Preparing for 
Mr. Cave. — Sham Civilization.— The Horse- trampling Ceremony. — En- 
glish en voyage. — Egypt and Persia. — Customs Officers at Alexandria. — 
Egypt and Turkey 443 

CHAPTER XXX. 

"From the Levant." — Sunnis and Shi'ahs. — Turkish Government and Turk- 
ish Debt.— Fuad and Midhat Pashas.— Not a "Sick Man."— "Best Po- 
lice of the Bosphorus." — Religious Sanction for Decrees. — The Council 
of State. — " Qui est-ce qu'on trompe ?" — Murad and Hamid. — Error of the 
West. — Precepts of the Cheri.-r-Authority of the Sultan. — Non-Mussul- 
man Population. — Abd-ul-Hamid's Ilatt. — A Foreign Garrison. — Hatt-y- 
houmayoun of 1856. — Failure of Pronuses. — Fetva of Sheik-ul-Islam. — 
Non-Mussulmans and the Army. — Firman of December, 1875. — Sir Hen- 
ry Elliot and the Porte. — Conscription in Turkey 458 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Islam in Persia. — Mohammedans of India. — Ali of the Shi'ahs. — Abu-Bekr 
Successor of Mohammed.— Imams of the Shi'ahs.— Reza and Mehdee.— 
Religion in the East. — Mohammed as a Soldier. — War with Infidels.— 
Christianity of the Middle Ages.— Stretching the Koran.— Mohammed's 



16 CONTENTS. 

Marriage Law. — Status of Mohammedan Women. — Women and Civiliza- 
tion. — Special Privilege of INIoliammed. — Mormonism and Mohammedan- 
' ism. — Consequences of Polygamy. — Protection of Polygamy. — Moham- 
med and Ayesha.- — ^^Scandal silenced by the Koran. — Mohammed's Do- 
mestic Difficulty. — Law for Men and Women. — Women in Mohammed's 
Heaven. — The Mohammedan Paradise. — Mohammed and the Jews. — 
Birth of Christ in the Koran. — Miracles of Christ. — English Leaning to 
Islam. — Mohammedanism and Christianity. — Christians of the East. — 
Moslem Intemperance. — Wine and the Koran. — Superiority of Chris- 
tianity Page 471 




aABt 



THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAN. 



CHAPTER I. 

The Vistula. — Warsaw. — French Sympathies. — Partition of Poland. — Pass- 
port and Local Kegulations. — The Three Imperial Courts. — The Turkish 
Capitulations. — The Ideal Pole. — The Eeal Pole. — Religion in Poland. — 
Hotel d'Europe. — Statue of John Sobieski. — Lazienski Palace. — Russian 
Government. — Napoleon at "Warsaw. — Grodno. — Wilna. — " Tronfolger's 
Namstag." 

By the waters of the. Vistula we sat down and talked of 
the historical wrongs of Poland. We were on the lower 
bank of the river, near where the bridge of latticed iron 
connects the suburb of Praga with the city of Warsaw. 
From this point of view the situation of the capital of Rus- 
sian Poland is jDicturesque. It was a beautiful evening in 
September of last year, and the rays of the setting sun gilded 
the stately lines of the palace, once that of Poniatowski, 
which stands from fifty to a hundred feet above the level of 
the water. The queer old houses of one of the most ancient 
parts of Warsaw are scattered on the slope, and the back- 
ground is filled with yet higher objects — the lofty roofs, tow- 
ers, and spires of Polish churches, and the five golden cupolas 
of the Russian Cathedral. 

Rafts of pine timber, cargoes of ruddy apples and dark- 
green melons, float before us; the river has nearly the width 
of the Thames at Putney, but nowhere the beauty of our 



18 THKOUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 

metropolitan stream; it comes to where we sit, visible afar 
in its course through flat, sandy lands, a silvery streak ; and 
as we mount the rising ground into Warsaw, we can trace 
its flow, burnished by the dying sunlight, as it passes away 
through a country equally destitute of charms or of high cul- 
tivation. 

Arrived at the top of the slope leading to the bridge, w^e 
are in the principal street of ^yarsaw, which, indeed, in its 
entire length is composed of two streets — the Krakowski 
Przedraiesci, or Faubourg de Cracovie, as the French-loving 
people of Warsaw call it, and the Nowy Swiat, or Rue de 
ISTouveau Monde, as the more fashionable shop-keepers at once 
inform any stranger. There must be thousands of people in 
Warsaw who would be glad to see the defeat of Sedan and 
the annexation of Metz avenged and reversed. There is an 
air as well as a natural gayety in the manner of the people 
w^hich makes one almost ready to forget that the broad ex- 
panse of the German Empire lies between this city and 
France, to which, of all foreign lands, the Polish sympathies 
are given. With the exception of the tram-way cars, which 
look like English second-class railway carriages, the vehicles 
have caught this gay and lively air. The queer-shaped omni- 
buses, like a landau and small omnibus pressed together, are 
as bright as red and yellow can make them. Occasionally 
one sees dashing through the crowd the equipage of some 
Russian official, the flat-capped and petticoated driver hold- 
ing the reins d la Hiisse, one in each hand, steering his fast- 
trotting horses with marvelous skill and address, and with no 
need of whip. 

There are some populations which it seems impossible to 
fancy as living in apparent happiness and gayety together 
with their conquerors. For my own part, I can imagine the 
Battle of Dorking a reality, and conceive the occupation of 
London by foreign soldiery ; but I can not picture to myself 



WAESAW. 1 9 

holiday-making Londoners in the Tower of London by per- 
mission of aUen sentries, nor merry parties on the hills of 
Hampstead and Sydenham and Muswell cracking nuts and 
jokes as they looked down upon London, the prey of a for- 
eign foe. I can better frame for the mind's eye the debonair 
populace of Paris disporting in the Bois, under the guardian- 
ship of Germans, than Berliners happy in the Thiergarten, 
while the Unter den Linden was patrolled by French. The 
Italians would be lighter-hearted in such circumstances, and 
the Poles exhibit their affinity of race by all that the traveler 
sees in Warsaw. 

The partition of Poland is now something more than an 
accomplished fact — it is part of the settled distribution of 
the Continent of Europe. Nearly a hundred years have 
passed away since " Freedom shrieked " at the fall of Kosci- 
usko and of Warsaw. Generations have matured to which 
the independence of Poland is but a dim tradition — genera- 
tions which have followed the road to comfort and prosperi- 
ty, by subservience to the Russian power. Yet the rule of 
Russia has been harsh, and there has been no disposition, at 
least until the last few years, to conceal the character of the 
claim by right of which Russia rules in Warsaw. The insur- 
rection of fourteen years ago is outw^ardly forgotten, yet in 
many a Polish heart there must be rankling memory of the 
cruel time when the ferocious tyranny of the Russian Gen- 
eral Mouravieff evoked remonstrance from England. The 
older rebellions are commemorated in Warsaw. The inso- 
lence of conquest could not look more grim than in the blunt 
and stunted obelisk, supported on lions, which was erected in 
1841 upon the Saski Place, in memory of the "loyal" Poles 
and of " their fidelity to their sovereign." 

We have been visitors in Paris and in Rome during a state 
of siege ; but when the Germans were at St. Denis, and the 
army of Versailles at Neuilly — when Garibaldi was in arms 



20 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAR A VAX. 

at Mentana, and the newly invented Chassepot had ^\fait 
tnerveille " upon the bodies of men which were yet unbnried, 
it was easier to enter or quit either of those cities than it is 
to find acceptance in time of jjeace as a visitor in Warsaw. 
Tlie penalties are dreadful for those who receive a stranger 
without at once giving notice to the police of his country and 
Ins quality. Xo hotel exists without a i:)assport bureau ; and 
travelers are not " ushered," as reporters say, into their apart- 
ments, but are rather " interned " to await, on Polish food, the 
good jileasure of the Russian police as to their liberty within 
the city, and the time of their departure. If their joassports 
do not bear the vise of the Russian Legation in their country, 
they will be required to spend a good deal of time in a shut- 
tlecock existence between the police-office and their hotel. 
They will be teased with formalities, which of course a well- 
iuforraed conspirator would easily avoid. 

lu fact, the inhabitants, temjDorary and resident, of Warsaw 
live in a fortress, under special license from the police and 
the governor -general. One notices in the streets that not 
only for convenience, but " by order," every shop-keeper must 
inscribe in Russian whatever name and business he chooses 
to set up in the native language. If on the right hand of his 
shop-window^ he writes, in the letters which are common to 
most of the languages of Europe, "Konicz, Tailleur, Cha- 
peaux de Paris, la Derniere Mode, Style Elegante," he must 
on the left side, or elsewhere, communicate to all whom it 
may concern the same announcement in the semi-barbarous 
characters of the Russian language. One is everywhere re- 
minded that Warsaw is Russian, not Polish ; that Russian 
soldiers form the garrison ; that Russian is the official lan- 
guage ; that the Russo-Greek Church imparts the official re- 
ligion of this essentially Roman Catholic Poland. There 
Avould be little, perhaps, to recall to mind the fact that here 
is a suppressed nationality, were not the vital difference of 



THE THREE IMPERIAL COURTS. 21- 

religion ever present to remind the stranger of the liistory of 
this part of Europe. 

The partition of Poland is the fundamental bond of union, 
drawing together the alUance of " the three imperial courts," 
" who," in the language of the Berlin Memorandum, " believe 
themselves called njjon to concert among themselves measures 
for averting the dangers of the situation " in Turkey ; " who," 
when united, are absolutely masters of that situation, and can 
be subject to the interference of other great powers only in 
their dissensions. The three emperors, who, if they agree, 
can, without reference to any other power, impose their own 
solution of the Eastern question upon the world, are first of 
all united in that transaction which gave to Prussia her Ro- 
man Catholic provinces upon the Baltic ; to Russia, the cen- 
tral district, of which Warsaw is the chief city ; and to Aus- 
tria, Cracow and Galicia. No more effectual mode of insur- 
ing the extinction of Poland as a separate state could have 
been devised; and in fact Poland has ceased to exist. There 
is not even a quiver in the divided limbs ; Poles must be Prus- 
sian, Russian, or Austrian, if they wish for a successful ca- 
reer. He who climbs toward the prizes must.Avear the colors 
x)f the sovereignty; and so it usually happens that acquies- 
cence and contentment follow conquest. This was manifest 
even in the short-lived annexations of the First Napoleon. I 
have heard of Garibaldi that he, an Italian of Italians, was in 
fact born a Frenchman ; that in Nice, under the First Empire, 
it was the wish of prudent parents that their children should 
talk French, and that the tongue of Moliere, rather than that 
of Dante, was the language in which he first learned to speak. 

Poland is dismembered, but in religion she is united ; and 
undoubtedly the preservation of peace in the North of Europe 
has some assurance in the circumstance that her religion is 
not that of Russia nor that of Prussia. Austrians have al- 
ways had a hold on the sympathy of Poles, which neither 



22 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

Russia nor Germany can attain, in the fact that both turn to 
Rome as the fountain of their religious faith. Perhaps it is 
owing to this communion in religion that the rule of Austria 
in her Polish dominions has been milder ; although there can 
be no doubt that in part this has been the result of policy — of 
a desire to engender envy on the side of Russian Poland — so 
that, in the event of war, Austria might rely upon the deten- 
tion of a large Russian force in and around Warsaw. The Aus- 
trian Poles have neither Falck law^s nor a schismatic Church 
connected with the Government to wdiich they are subject; 
and in a conglomerate empire, in wdiich there is unavoidably 
some confusion of tongues, the Government is not impelled 
by that irritating desire to impose the official language which 
marks the rule of Russia and of Prussia. The Tsar is doubt- 
less aware of the leaning of some among his Polish subjects 
toward his Austrian brother, who is, to a certain extent, pro- 
tected in his ambition upon the Danube by the probability 
that he could raise revolt in Warsaw by promising Poland 
■ autonomy like that of Hungary. Indeed, the more w^e exam- 
ine the condition of Poland, the more convinced shall we be- 
come that it is the centre upon which reposes the concord of 
the three imperial courts ; and that but for the present settle- 
ment of Poland w^e might have less ground for confidence in 
their pacific resolutions. 

As for ourselves, and in connection with the politics of the 
East of Europe, it will possibly surprise not a few English- 
men to learn that for the peculiar privileges, " capitulations," 
as they are called, by which our intercourse with the Ottoman 
Empire is regulated, and under which Englishmen live and 
carry on business in Turkey, we are as much indebted to the 
Poles as to any other people. These concessions, the existence 
of which has always proclaimed the infirmity of Mohammedan 
rule, were not made to us or at any bidding from our Foreign 
Office. They date, as \ve learn from Mr. Hertzlet's compila- 



THE TURKISH CAPITULATIONS. 23 

tion,* from a time when England was not a great power in 
the East. Two hundred years ago — in 1675 — "an extension 
to British subjects of privileges granted to French, Poles^ 
Venetians," was conceded, " by command of the Emperor and 
Conqueror of the Earth, achieved with the assistance of the 
Omnipotent, and with the special grace of God — We, who by 
the Divine Grace, assistance, will, and benevolence now arc 
the King of Kings of the World, the Prince of Emperors 
of every age, the Dispenser of Crowns to monarchs, and the 
Champion ;" and it is in right of this extension of privileges 
originally granted to " French, Poles, Venetians," that our con- 
sular courts exercise judgment and authority in Turkey and 
in Egypt. Every historical student must have noticed how 
the use of such high-sounding titles, such pretenses to a quasi- 
Divine sovereignty, fade away at the daw^n and in the increase 
of civilization ; but perhaps there is no more remarkable ex- 
ample on record than that which is afforded by a comparison 
of the Sultan's style and titles in the treaty above referred 
to, with the simple designation of a successor in the Calii^hate, 
Abd-ul-Medjid, in the Treaty of 1856, where the Sultan is, 
in French fashion, merely styled " Emperor of the Ottomans." 
Having thus connected Poland with ourselves, especially in 
our relations wdth the chief of Mohammedan powers, let us 
turn again to that shadow of her former self, which is seen in 
and about her ancient capital, of which the history mounts to 
the twelfth century. Those w^ho were young children thirty 
years ago had at that time perhaps very much the same con- 
ception of an ideal Pole, an ideal which has possibly lingered 
in their thoughts through life. My notion of a Pole w\as of 
one who passed his time in the severest practice of the most 
noble exhibitions of personal honor and j^atriotism; of one 
who was generally in chains, often in Siberia, who had a most 

* " Treaties, etc., regulating Trade between Great Britain and Turkej'." 



24 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

romantic visage, an elegant figure, a very picturesque costume, 
a coat all frogged and braided, a brilliant scarf, very high boots, 
as suitable for dancing as for striding over the corpses of his 
oppressors, and a painful, oft-renewed acquaintance with the 
knout, as wielded by Russian executioners. I will venture to 
add that, in my own case, Mr. Punch is responsible for per- 
verting this idea. In the days of the late Lord Dudley Stuart, 
that zealous friend of Polish refugees, Mr. Punchy by the pen- 
cil of Leech and others, gave me to understand that a Pole 
was an alien creature, who inhabited London in the neighbor- 
hood of Soho and Leicester Square, chiefly with the object of 
stealing the hat or overcoat of paterfamilias upon the front 
door of an English house being opened to his petition, and 
whose loftier vocation was that of making love upon the 
smallest opportunity to any eligible young lady, with a view 
to an elopement, and to enjoying after marriage any patri- 
mony which might fall into the lap of the bride, ^iw Punch, 
it may be observed, is never very kind to people who are dis- 
satisfied with the government of their country. But let that 
pass. There was another circumstance in the life of the Pole 
of my cliildish imagination which has long since been dis- 
pelled. I thought him an inhabitant of craggy hills and 
lovely dales, living always in sight of liigh mountains and 
deep forests, a country like that in which dwell the insurgents 
of the Herzegovina, like those countries with which, from the 
almost invariable success of insurrection in mountainous re- 
gions, it is perhaps natural for untaught intelligence to sur- 
round the ideal insurgent. The Pole is in fact the laborious 
cultivator of a sandy plain, which would be a desert if it were 
in a rainless country two thousand miles south of Poland; 
he is pinched and poor — as a tiller of sand is likely to be — 
and, to say the truth, he is very ignorant and terribly bigoted 
— a neglected child in education and a priest-led fanatic in 
relis^ion. 



RELIGION IN^ POLAND. 25 

Standing not long ago beside the open door of the Roman 
Catholic cathedral of Warsaw, I noticed that all who were 
neither Jews nor Russian soldiers uncovered as they passed, 
while not a few prostrated themselves upon the damp and 
dirty pavement, making humblest obeisance to the distant al- 
tar. A droschky- driver, whose restive horses and nervous 
" fare " demanded all his attention, Avould not pass but with 
bare head ; the country carter doffed his cap ; the porter 
dropped his load ; even the school-boy paused to make his 
mark of homage; some kissed the sacred threshold of the 
door ; all who had leisure seemed to enter. Quite a common 
sight in the Roman Catholic churches of Poland is a j^rostra- 
tion like that of the Moslems, with the knees and forehead 
resting on the pavement. The Papal religion and national 
sympathies have always been close comj^anions in Poland, and 
it is probably true that many a fanatic has also been what 
is called a rebel. Looking to the intensity and superstitious 
character of the devotion in these Polish churches, one is al- 
most surprised that there are not miracles d la mode in War- 
saw. Perhaps the Tsar and Prince Gortschakoff do not ap- 
prove of Roman Catholic miracles, though they would hardly 
put the seal of their authority to the French couplet — 

"De par du Roy, defense a Dieu, 
De faire miracle dans ce lieu." 

Warsaw is one of the cities which " have been." It wants 
" cleaning up," as I heard an English lady say in the Nowy 
Swiat. It is nearly as foul as some parts of Berlin in regard 
to open drains coursing beside the pavements of the streets, 
and we noticed, not as a sign of progress, that men were 
watering a principal thoroughfare with the familiar pot and 
" rose" of our English gardens. But the people who invented 
the polka and the mazurka are, perhaps, lifted above sanitary 
considerations and a policy of sewage. The streets of War- 

2 



26 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

saw will certainly match those of any city of the world for 
pretty names. Some British novelist will be indebted to me 
for sus^Qrestins: as the name of his next heroine that of a chief 
street — "Dluga;" or, "Freta,"that of another main street. 
But the great, new, unpeopled way is called after a lady who 
has consented to become English — "Alexandrovna." Except 
in the houses of the very poor, there is great liberality of space 
in and about Warsaw. Of the hotels in Europe older than 
the second half of the nineteenth century, the Hotel d'Europe 
of Warsaw must be one of the largest. It is quadrangular in 
plan, and upon each of the floors there is an utterly unfur- 
nished corridor at least ten feet wide. 

The gardens in and about the city are pretty well kept; I 
know of no town which has in its midst a more pleasant and 
ornamental garden than that Avhich adjoins the Saski Place 
in Warsaw; and the park surrounding the Lazienski Palace 
is more wooded and undulating than Hyde Park or the Bois 
de Boulogne. This suburban palace, in a most charming site 
between a lake and woods, was built in 1754 for King Ponia- 
towski. In style, it is an Italian villa, and the decorations 
include mosaics from Rome and Florence. In the grounds, 
which are studded with summer-houses and pavilions, per- 
haps the most notable object is an equestrian statue of John 
Sobieski by a native artist. 

If an Englishman discusses the past and present condition 
of Poland with a Russian, the latter is sure to introduce the 
state of Ireland by way of comparison, and will undoubtedly 
believe and maintain that the manifestation of political opin- 
ion is no more free in Ireland than in Poland. Apropos of 
this well-worn comparison, the sight of the statue of John 
Sobieski reminded us of what we had seen a few weeks 
before in Dublin. Some days after the termination of the 
inharmonious proceedings in connection with the O'Connell 
Centenary, we noticed, in riding through the streets of Dub- 



STATUE OF JOHN SOBIESKY. 27 

Hd, an uncared-for, neglected remnant of the Home Rule pro- 
cession in the shape of a green handkerchief which still en- 
circled the neck of the statue of Mr. Smith O'Brien. Fancy 
what would happen to the daring enthusiast who should vent- 
ure to tie the colors of revolutionary Poland around the col- 
lar of John Sobieski, or to the officer who, seeing this mani- 
festation accomplished, should fail for one unnecessary mo- 
ment to remove the irritating symbol ! What a rattle of 
swords, what a jingling of spurs, there would be among the 
long- coated Russian officers, who are omnipresent in War- 
saw, smoking always, and in nearly every street ! What a 
flutter of paper there would be at the head-quarters of Rus- 
sian government, in the city palace of Poniatowski, that dull 
quadrangle of stone which we looked at from the Praga side 
of the Vistula, where the Russian viceroy lives ! The hapless 
man would soon meet the forms of Russian justice, adminis- 
tered in a language incomprehensible to him, and punishment 
proportioned to Russian estimate of his offense. I can see 
him, as I have seen others, marched off, chained in company 
with base criminals, to Siberia, his wife and children being 
permitted, if they please, to accompany him at the expense 
of the Government to that inhospitable region, the rigors of 
which can not be understood by those who have only seen 
the northern plains of Central Asia during the transient 
brightness of the brief summer. 

At Warsaw, in a back street, stands the hotel in which the 
First Napoleon is said to have rested in his flight from Mos- 
cow; of that great tragedy we were reminded again, when, 
after crossing the sandy plain from Warsaw, the name of 
Grodno was shouted by Russian railway men. It was dark 
and late when we arrived at Wilna, where I^apoleon deserted 
the remnant of his army, and galloped off toward France — 
and Elba. Between the railway station and the principal 
street of Wilna the wall of the town intervenes, and high 



28 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

over the gate-way, which forms the main entrance, is a small 
chapel dedicated to the mother of Jesus Christ, Avhich is an 
object of worship quite, in its way, as superstitious as was 
ever paid to the gods of ancient Greece or Egypt; with the 
difference that this guardian of the town is in herself, and in 
the ornaments with which she is surrounded, an exhibition 
of art in forms at once mean and base. This tawdry shrine 
faces the street, which descends rapidly from the gate-way ; 
and through all the hours of the day, and through many of 
the night, the sloping pavements are crowded with worship- 
ers, gazing, some with the touching, tender, wistfulness of 
anxious maternity, some with the doubting, half -despairing 
hope for spiritual aid to be rid of deadly clinging vice ; some 
with the look of prosperity upon them, whose desire is evi- 
dently to make the best of both worlds, and who especially 
wish to have the savor of piety in this world ; others with 
the misery of neglected old age, blinking and muttering their 
formulas, their hopes and wants, with their ideas of the In- 
finite subdued and compressed within the lines of this vul- 
gar image. 

Our Polish driver, like every one else of the same nation- 
ality, held his hat in his hand as he approached, j^assed 
through, and descended from this chapeled archway. With- 
in the town there was a curious and by us quite unexpected 
illumination. At regular intervals of two or three yards, 
there were lighted lanterns placed in the gutter on both sides 
of the streets. We drove a long distance through this cu- 
rious manifestation, which was further exhibited by lighted 
candles placed in a few of the windows, without knowing the 
event which it was intended to honor. At the hotel, a Ger- 
man-speaking waiter replied, ^^ Tronfolger* s JVamstag.''^ It 
w^as the birthday of Alexandrowitch, heir to the throne of all 
the Kussias. 



DUNABUKG. 29 



CHAPTER II. 

Russian Railway Carriages. — Russian Ventilation. — Dunaburg. — White 
Sand. — Droscbky Tickets. — St. Petersburg. — Exaggerated Praise, — New- 
ski Prospekt. — The Hermitage. — Winter Palace. — St. Isaac's Churcli. — 
The Old Cathedral. — Tombs of the Romanoffs. — Down the Neva. — Cron- 
stadt. — Droschky-driving. — The Gostinnoi Dvor. — The Kazan Church. — 
The Russian Language. — The Road to Moscow. 

A Russian railway carriage resembles a gypsy wagon, in 
having a stove-pipe issuing from the roof, and a succession of 
these chimneys attracts the notice of any one who is for the 
first time traveling in the dominions of the Tsar. Fortunate- 
ly, the stoves were not lighted on the mild September even- 
ing in which we set out for St. Petersburg — I say fortunate- 
ly, because the Russian notion of a fire is to enjoy its warmth 
without ventilation. Russian climate is the coldest, Russian 
rooms and railway carriages the hottest, in Europe. Our 
train staid a few minutes at Dunaburg — time enough to eat 
one of the excellent veal - cutlets which are always hot and 
ready for travelers. But at day-break, when we took coffee 
at Luga, in the raw and foggy morning, the guard needed the 
warm gloves in which he took the tickets. One notices, as 
a sign of the severity of the climate, how kindly people take 
to gloves whose equals in England would be unable to do 
their work with their hands so covered. White sand, gray 
sand, the face of the country is covered with sand in the 
North of Russia ; flat sand, hidden for the most part with 
scanty crops, and with wide forest patches of fir, the sombre 
hues of which are occasionally varied with the more tender 
green and the silvery bark of birch-trees. 



30 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 

Tliere is nothing interesting or picturesque in the approach 
to the Russian capital. One looks out to see the golden 
domes and spires, and is not disappointed. There from afar 
shines the gilded cupola of St. Isaac's Church, and there, like 
golden needles, glitter the sj^ires of the Admiralty, and of the 
old cathedral in which all the greatest of the House of Ro- 
manoff lay buried. Soon we are at the station, where the 
uninformed or incautious traveler, who rushes at the nearest 
droschky-driver to secure his carriage, will be disappointed. 
They manage these things otherwise in Russia. One must 
look out for the official on the steps of the station, whose 
hands are filled with numbered plates, and the only cab the 
traveler can engage is that of which the number is received 
from this person. 

St. Petersburg has been often described, but generally in 
language of exaggerated admiration. It certainly possesses 
that feature, without which there can be no grandeur in town 
or city — that feature of space which we are slowly and suc- 
cessfully, though at an enormous cost, giving to London. I 
should say that the clear and flowing waters of the Neva, 
sweeping in ample width through the city, form the chief ad- 
vantage and ornament of St. Petersburg. But for that over- 
praised pile of stucco, the Winter Palace, I have no admira- 
tion ; and as for the treasures of the Hermitage Museum, they 
can not bear comparison in richness or interest with those of 
more Southern cities. The streets are wide, the pavement in 
the roads is execrable, the shops are gay only in the Newski 
Prospekt, and there is no more antiquity than in Boston or 
IsTew York. St. Petersburg is not a handsome city, after the 
manner of Vienna and Paris, for those cities have at every 
turn the results of high civilization and a genial climate, which 
are lacking in the Russian capital. 

Before entering the Winter Palace, one must visit a den 
somewhere about the foundations — a place reeking with to- 



THE WINTER PALACE. 31 

bacco-smoke — in which Russian officers sit to deliver the nec- 
essary permission; and the glories of this florid wilderness 
of stucco are supposed to culminate in the semi-barbaric re- 
splendence of the golden boudoir of the Empress— a small 
apartment, of which the ceiling, the walls, and even the doors 
are gilded. No wonder the Emperor Nicholas took refuge 
and comfort in his plain apartments, the furniture of which 
remains as it stood in his life-time. So entirely is the status 
quo preserved that his majesty's cloak and hat, his sword and 
gloves, are in the jDlaces they occupied in his life-time. 

There is one exception to the buildings of St. Petersburg 
which, if we overlook some of its internal decorations, appears 
worthy of all praise. The Church of St. Isaac is, in my opin- 
ion, the noblest building of modern times, and one of which 
not half enough has been said in Europe by way of eulogy. 
Perhaps it is not difficult to account for the misjDlaced adula- 
tion of Russian palaces. The " special correspondents," who 
are sent to St. Petersburg on great occasions, have their eyes 
fixed upon the ceremonies of the court, and there can be no 
doubt that the Russian court is seen to great advantage by 
the soft glare of thousands of wax-candles. It is unquestion- 
ably true that the Winter Palace " lights up well," better even 
than the White Hall of the old Schloss of Berlin, and with far 
finer effect than the comparatively small apartments of English 
royalty. It must be owing to the effect of wax-lights on the 
brain that, in accounts of St. Petersburg, the stuccoed gew- 
gaws of the Winter Palace, and the veneered lapis lazuli and 
malachite of the Hermitage, have obscured the grand and sol- 
id magnificence of St. Isaac's — a building most worthy of the 
golden crown which, with vast circumference, domes the cen- 
tre of this splendid edifice, which has been completed during 
the present reign. The style is Byzantine, that mixture of 
Greek and Romanesque architecture which is perhaps the 
best suited to the Northern climate; and though smaller than 



32 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAYA:Jf. 

St. Paul's in London, or St. Peter's in Rome, St. Isaac's is 
more massive in construction. 

St. Peter's has some monoliths, pillaged from temples of the 
ancient city, but none that can compare with the polished col- 
umns of Finland granite which support the four porticoes of 
St. Isaac's j and there is nothing in the elevation of either of 
those world-famous churches more admirable than the bronze 
statuary with which the tympanum of each one of the pedi- 
ments of these porticoes is adorned, or than the compositions 
which, placed upon the wings of these pediments, vary with 
excellent effect the outlines of the church. In solidity, the 
masonry is not surpassed by any ancient work, and the splen- 
did interior is only disappointing because its permanent dec- 
orations are somewhat too substantial, and its religious orna- 
ments out of harmony with the grandeur of a building in 
which the spectacle of crowds smacking their lips upon the 
trumpery portraits of persons, some of them obscure, and 
sanctified after a narrow-minded life, spent for the most part 
in dirt and asceticism, is especially ridiculous, if not irrita- 
ting. 

The church in which the predecessors of the Tsar are 
buried is comparatively insignificant, and the tombs of the 
emperors are simple j^arallelograms, built with plain slabs of 
white marble, with not the least attempt at artistic style or 
ornament. The young soldier who acted as our guide in 
this church pointed to the graves of Peter the Great, of Nich- 
olas I., and of the eldest son of the present Tsar, as those 
most interesting. The Pomanoffs rest beneath trophies of 
battle in the shape of flags, including those of most nations, 
the Union -jack among the number — a flag, perhaps, taken 
from the Tiger when that unfortunate vessel, having ground- 
ed in a fog off Odessa, was, during the Crimean war, sur- 
rendered by Captain Giffard to the Russian General Osten- 
Sacken. 



ST. PETEESBURG. 33 

From all that we saw in steaming down the Neva, and 
at Cronstadt, I should suppose Sir Charles Napier could sec 
the highest pinnacles of St. Petersburg while he was forced 
to respect the range of those ugly fortresses. But that was 
in the unarmored, muzzle-loading days. What would happen 
now in a real fight between floating fortresses of iron and 
stationary fortresses of stone it is not for me to say; but 
at least this much is certain, that the conditions of naval 
warfare are entirely altered since the time when Sir Charles 
made his famous speech, ending with " Sharpen your cutlass- 
es, lads, and the day is your own !" It seems that in our 
time the " Shiver my timbers !" of Marryat's age would be 
as little out of place as the "Sharpen your cutlasses" of 1854. 
" Ram often, and ram home !" is more likely to be the watch- 
word of the future. 

From the front of the Admiralty House in St. Petersburg 
one can look down the whole length of the Newski Prospekt, 
a mile and a half or so, to the Moscow Railway Station. 
Among the many "cures" which English physicians now 
prescribe, including mud-baths and grape cures, and the dili- 
gent drinking, as in Russia and Germany, of mares' milk 
fermented, I wonder no one has suggested driving up and 
down the Newski Prospekt, or, better still, the back streets 
of the Russian capital, in a droschky as a " cure " for a slug- 
gish liver. Such a shaking can be obtained nowhere else. 
The ride has other advantages for gentlemen whose hearts 
and hands are free. Convenience and obvious custom may 
be pleaded for encircling a lady's waist with an arm when 
the jangling, rattling vehicle is occupied by one of each sex; 
this mode is indulged in not only from occasional necessity 
as the only means of keeping a light body on the seat of the 
droschky, but it is further almost obligatory, on account of 
the smallness of the scat, which, though often occupied by 
two, is probably constructed only for one person. 

9* 



34 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN. 

The journey down the Newski Prospekt may be broken 
at the Gostinnoi Dvor, or great bazaar, an institution in Rus- 
sian towns, a reminiscence probably of Tartardora, that by- 
gone state of Muscovite existence which, it has been said, 
may easily be rediscovered by scratching a Russian. 

The Gostinnoi Dvor of St. Petersburg is a well-built quad- 
rangular arcade of shops, of which, perhaps, the most inter- 
esting to a stranger are those of the furriers ; for, as a rule, 
there are but few native products or manufactures in Rus- 
sian shops, or it w^ould be more correct to say, few possessing 
any uncommon interest or original character. There is plen- 
ty of bad hardware, that of Birmingham being excluded by 
high tariffs; but where there is seen a rich display of taste 
in any of the St. Petersburg shops, the -work is sure to be 
French. Russian garments of fur are little suited for En- 
glish w^ear, because of a radical differences in the usages of 
the two countries. In England fur is worn partly for orna- 
ment, and consequently the hair is turned outward ; in Russia 
it is always reversed, and the fur concealed beneath the out- 
ward cloth of the garment. And it is noticeable that the fur 
mostly used in England — seal-skin — is not met with in the 
St. Petersburg bazaar. If any one wishes to put as much 
money as possible into a fur-coat — a " shuba," as this indis- 
pensable part of the wardrobe of a gentleman is called in the 
Russian language — let him order in the Gostinnoi Dvor one 
of the fur of the "blue" fox; it will be worth much more 
than its weight in silver rubles. 

Close by is the Kazan church, another pile of stucco, con- 
cerning the silver altar rails of which the guide-books make 
a terrible, unwarranted fuss. As these famous rails are short, 
hollow, and plain as a pikestaff, their glorijBcation is some- 
what absurd. That which is much more curious in this 
church is the collection of keys of surrendered towns and the 
gilded and jeweled screen — the Ikonostas — standing between 



THE EOAD TO MOSCOW. 35 

the rails and the sanctuary of the church, that ecclesiastical 
threshold which no woman may cross. 

But we had better leave the eccentricities of the Russo- 
Greek Church for the present, and get on from St. Peters- 
burg to Moscow — a journey which, owing to the railway 
arrangements, English travelers usually make by night. Ev- 
ery one who has wandered much in the South of Europe will 
have met with Russians unable to speak the language of their 
country ; and from the number of these it might be inferred 
that in Russia the use of the vernacular was exclusively con- 
fined to the lower classes. It remains true, however, that 
in Russia there is no language so useful as Russian, though 
from Cronstadt to Sebastopol the traveler who can speak 
German is never in great difficulty. By many of the higher 
classes, and at a few of the most fashionable shops, French 
is spoken, but German is unquestionably more useful in trav- 
eling. When morning dawns upon the mail-train, as it ap- 
proaches the more ancient capital of Russia, there is very 
much the same landscape in the neighborhood of Moscow 
as that which meets the eye in coming to St. Petersburg 
from the w^est : the same sand from which laborious peasants 
scratch a scanty crop ; the same forests of fir and birch in 
which princes and nobles delight to hunt the grizzly bear. 
All is flat and uninteresting. One shivers in the cold of May 
or September, and begins to comprehend what a reservoir of 
warmth is the tossing sea, how bitterly cold in winter are 
those vast, sandy, waterless plains, which, with the aid of 
rain, are coaxed to cultivation in the North, but in the ex- 
treme South of the Empire are seen and known as barren 
steppes, yielding nothing but a sense of bigness to the Rus- 
sian Empire. 



36 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN. 



CHAPTER III. 

Moscow. — The Native Capital of Russia. — The Kitai-Gorotl. — Lubianka 
Street. — The Kremlin. — The Holy Gate. — The Redeemer of Smolensk. — 
Bell-tower of Iran. — Church Bells.— Church of the Assumption. — Dean 
Stanley's Description. — The Coronation Platform. — The Virgin of Vladi- 
mir. — Corner Tombs. — The Young Demetrius. — John the Terrible. — The 
Tsar Kolokol. — The Foundling Hospital. — Nurses and Babies. — "Ne's 
avant Terme." — Moral and Social Results. — Cathedral of St. Basil. — 
John the Idiot. — The Lobnoe Mesto. — Iverskaya Chasovnia. — How the 
Metropolitan is paid. — Virgin from Mount Athos. — Tsar and Patriarch. 
— Motto from Troitsa. 

Moscow is unlike any other city, not only in its walls, its 
towers, its cupolas, its churches, but in its streets and houses, 
its hosj^itals and its populace. He has not seen Russia who 
has never been to Moscow. Of countries more advanced in 
civilization — of constitutional Spain and Greece — he too has 
seen little who knows but the capital. Modern Athens is a 
reproduction of Munich ; and to see the chief Spanish town 
one must go to Seville, not to Frenchified Madrid. The hu- 
man heart of Moscow lies within the walls of the Kitai-Go- 
rod— the Chinese Town, as it is called — " Kitai " being Chi- 
nese for "centre," just as the Orthodox and Imperial heart is 
found in the Kremlin. The encircling walls of the latter ex- 
clude the town, just as the walls of the Kitai-Gorod shut out 
the suburbs, where wealthy Moscow lives, sometimes in pret- 
ty villas. After the fire in 1812, which did not efface these 
girdles, Moscow dragged herself up again without regard to 
any great improvement of plan ; and the streets are so irreg- 
ular that the easiest thing in the world is to lose one's self in 
the narrow limits of the Kitai-Gorod, in which nearly all the 



MOSCOAV. 37 

shop-keeping and the whole of the mercantile business of Mos- 
cow are carried on. From the Kremlin, or Acropolis of Mos- 
cow, which stands on a bank rising steeply about a hundred 
feet above the river from which the city takes its name, the 
ground slopes gently through the Kitai-Gorod to the Lubi- 
anka Street, from his house in which Count Rostopchin an- 
nounced to the terrified people that the Russian garrison 
would make way for the French army. In passing to the 
Kremlin from this street, one enters the " Chinese Town " 
through a gate-way in the massive wall of brick, and, if he is 
a Russian, uncovers before the little church on the left hand, 
which is one of those curious edifices that are seen nowhere 
beyond the pale of the Greek Church — a tiny building, the 
roof of which, with eaves that scarcely escape the hats of 
those who are passing by, is tortured into the most unex- 
pected shapes and angles; here a little cupola, and there a 
crocket — a confusion of the architecture of a pagoda and of 
a Lombard church, with tiles colored, red, blue, green, and 
yellow, in tints sobered and softened by age into a curious 
beauty. The ornamental little windows are not needed, for 
the diminutive church is ventilated only by the frequent 
opening of the door; and as for light, there is that of the 
lamps and candles, which are constantly burning. 

In point of superstition, I see no superiority in the lower 
classes of Russia over those of Spain. With the latter, their 
religion is, for the most part, symbolized by wooden dolls, 
blackened with age, such as " Our Ladies " of Atocha and 
Montserrat. With the Russians, solid images are not per- 
mitted; and the symbols of their faith are generally worth- 
less pictures, made to resemble images as much as possible 
by having robes, wrought in thin gold or silver, placed over 
the painting upon that part of the person where such gar- 
ments would be worn in life. The celebrated gate in the 
wall of the Kremlin, to which one ascends by the slope lead- 



38 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN^. 

ing from the Kitai-Gorod, is famous because a picture of this 
sort — " The Redeemer of Smolensk," as it is called — is sus- 
pended over the high archway of brick. With an opera- 
glass, one can discern a representation of the typical face of 
Christ, decked in golden garb and nimbus. It is barely per- 
mitted, even in these days, that any one may pass under this 
archway except uncovered. Jews and Mohammedans gener- 
ally find some less sacred portal, and the Tsar himself never 
enters the Kremlin by this "Redeemer Gate" with his hat 
upon his head. The tower above the gate-w^ay — a Gothic 
structure upon Italian fortifications — is suggestive of much 
that one sees in Russia. The traveler who expects to find 
grand buildings upon the Kremlin will be grievously disap- 
pointed. They are interesting because they are national, be- 
cause they are unique and curious ; but that is all. Highest 
rises the octagonal bell-tower of Ivan the Great. The bells, 
as is usual throughout Russia, are, as the French w^ould. say, 
monies cm jour / so that bell, and tongue, and beam, and ma- 
chinery are seen from the ground, with no intervening wall 
or window. 

The importance attached to bells in the Greek Church has 
been curiously illustrated in the Blue-book, containing " Cor- 
respondence respecting the Affairs of Turkey, and the Insur- 
rection in Bosnia and the Herzegovina." Consul Freeman 
reports that orders have been received at Bosnai Serai to 
construct a second minaret to the chief mosque. It is to be 
much higher than the existing one, that it may command the 
Orthodox church and steeple. " The execution of this w^ork 
at the present time," says the consul, " when, notw^ithstanding 
the proclamation, the Christians are refused the permission, 
so ardently desired, to have bells in their churches, can not be 
resrarded otherwise than as a demonstration of Mussulman 
fanaticism and superiority." Sir Henry Elliot communicated 
with the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, and reported 



CHUECH OF THE ASSUMPTION". 39 

to Lord Derby that, " before granting the permission to put 
up bells in the churches — which is now about to be granted, 
and which may create some soreness on the part of a portion 
of the Mussulmans — the Government considered it prudent 
to authorize the erection of a minaret, which should be high- 
er than the steeple." 

In Russia, as in Rome, there is a saint to be invoked upon 
every thought or purpose in life; and happy is he or she who 
remembers the right one when a handkerchief is mislaid or 
a sweetheart lost. Every one knows the church in Rome 
close to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, to which pet 
lambs and dogs, and the horses of the Pope and of the car- 
dinals, are taken for the blessing of their patron, St. Antonio 
Abbate. The chapel in the basement of the tower of Ivan 
is, or ought to be, frequented by ladies about to marry ; for 
it is dedicated to that particular St. Nicholas who is their ap- 
pointed guardian in a country of many saints, and where the 
rude forms of the Anglo-Saxon action for breach of promise 
are, happily, iinknown. 

But pass wdthin the commonplace iron railing which shuts 
off the tower from the Church of the Assumption, enter, and 
there is no disappointment. One is dazzled and charmed 
with the spectacle. Let us hear Dean Stanley (who is dis- 
posed to look more kindly on the antics of the Greek Church 
than the present writer) upon the first view of this truly re- 
markable interior. " It is in dimensions," he says, " what in 
the West would be called a chapel rather than a cathedral. 
But it is so fraught with recollections, so teeming with wor- 
shipers, so bursting with tombs and pictures, from the pave- 
ment to the cupola [the dean would not have been less ac- 
curate had he used the plural number, as there are five cupo- 
las, though that in the centre may be called the cupola], that 
its smallness of space is forgotten in the fullness of its con- 
tents. On the platform of its nave, from Ivan the Terrible 



40 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARATAX. 

downward to this day, the Tsars have been crowned. Along 
its altar -screen are deposited the most sacred pictures of 
Russia: that painted by the Metropolitan Peter; this sent 
by the Greek Emperor Manuel; that brought by Vladimir 
from Kherson." 

The platform to which Bean Stanley thus refers is a square 
dais of wood, raised by one step from the floor of the church, 
in the centre of which it is placed. The church has no " long- 
drawn aisles," nor any of the solemn beauty which is so ad- 
mirable in the dean's own Abbey of Westminster. The inte- 
rior is a blaze of color from floor to ceilino;. The walls are 
gilded in all but the frescoed representations of "The Seven 
Councils " and " The Last Judgment ;" and the five domes are 
upheld by four tall circular pillars of almost unvarying diam- 
eter, which are richly gilded from pavement to arch, except 
where they are adorned with quaint and highly colored por- 
traits of martyrs. 

"Time was," wrote Cardinal Wiseman, with a well-pointed 
sneer, " when it needed not a coronation to fill the aisles of 
AYestminster." Since that was written, we have seen those 
aisles thronged with eager listeners to the eloquence of a 
Wilberforce or a Stanley. A coronation in the Uspenski Sa- 
bor of Moscow is probably a grander sight, because of the 
awful power with which the new wearer of the Russian crown 
is — 7iot invested, but invests himself. Possibly Dean Stanley 
was present at the coronation of Alexander II. " The coro- 
nation," he writes, " even at the present time, is not a mere 
ceremony, but an historical event, and solemn consecration. 
It is preceded by fasting and seclusion, and takes place in 
ihe most sacred church in Russia; the Emperor, not as in 
the corresponding forms of European investiture, a passive 
recipient, but himself the principal figure in the whole 
scene; himself reciting aloud the confession of the Orthodox 
faith; himself, alone on his knees, amidst the assembled mul- 



THE VIRGIN OF VLADIMIR. 41 

titude, offering up the prayer of intercession for the Em- 
pire ; himself placing his own crown on his own head ; him- 
self entering through the sacred door of the innermost sanct- 
uary, and taking from the altar the elements of bread and 
wine." The Tsar is at once priest and king, ijretending to be 
that w^hich the Persian poet Sa'di describes as the kingly of- 
fice— "the Shadow of God." 

The picture of " The Holy Virgin of Vladimir " is saluted 
by the devout as the work of St. Luke, and by the careless as 
bearing nearly fifty thousand pounds' worth of jewels, includ- 
ing an emerald of enormous size. The faithful, when divine 
service is over, walk along the altar-screen, on which this and 
other sacred pictures are placed, kissing them one after the 
other with marks of deepest devotion. These and other treas- 
ures w^ere, of course, removed before the evacuation of Mos- 
cow, in 1812. It is quite impossible, without the aid of a 
series of colored plates, to convey to the mind of any one 
who has not seen it an accurate notion of the interior of this 
church. The principal architectural feature is the appropria- 
tion of about one-third of the area to the sanctuary, the altar- 
screen reducing the interior space from a parallelogram to a 
square, in which the four frescoed columns stand equidistant 
from the centre. No part of the walls is unadorned with 
paint or gilding ; and with the head well thrown back, one 
can see a gigantic face of Christ painted upon the inner sur- 
face of the central dome. 

There are many points, and those of great and significant 
importance, in which, to a Protestant mind, the Russian 
churches might be improved by following the example of any 
mosque. There can be nothing more opposed to the method 
of Islam than the constant exhibition of pictures, and the 
monstrous devotion and salutation of which these — for the 
most part daubs — are the object. Dean Stanley, however, 
notices one matter in which this great church of Moscow has 



42 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN". 

followed Oriental custom — the assi2:nment of its four corners 
as the places of most honored sepulture. 

The adjoining church, the Cathedral of Michael the Arch- 
angel, is more celebrated for its tombs. There lie the remains 
of John the Terrible, and of his murdered son Demetrius. As 
we entered this church, we noticed that all persons appeared 
to direct their steps, in the first place, to a low tomb not far 
from the centre, and that there they bent with utmost rever- 
ence to lay their lips upon a small opening in a golden frame- 
work, a brown, parchment -like patch, which is actually the 
forehead of the young Demetrius. This prince achieved his 
present position of saintship and adoration, involving neglect 
of the shrine of his " Terrible " parent, in consequence of his 
having been murdered by order of Boris Godunof, the Tsar 
of that turbulent period which preceded the settlement of 
the Empire by the election of young Romanoff, son of the 
Metropolitan of Rostof, in 1613. There happened also a 
" miracle " which led to the discovery of his sainted remains. 
Above the shrine his portrait hangs in a massive setting of 
gold. 

Externally the architecture of the buildings of the Kremlin 
is neither grand nor pleasing. It is possible that the uncom- 
mon aspect of the gilded domes, of which there are five on 
each of the churches above referred to, and several on other 
buildings, has led to the general imj^ression, which certainly 
prevails, that those plain edifices are externally remarkable. 
The big bell, " Tsar Kolokol," claims attention as a fractured 
apartment (it is big enough for habitation) in bell-metal ; and 
if the day is fine, the view from the front of the Palace of the 
Kremlin will command admiration. The massive wall is at 
this point sunk beneath the brow on which the Kremlin 
stands ; and across the river, in the foreground of a very ex- 
tended prospect, there stands a huge white building, the 
Foundling Hospital, to which we descended, fortunately upon 



FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 43 

the day when strangers are admitted to this vast nursery for 
Russian infants. 

To those who know any thing of the statistics of infant 
mortality, there is something sad and ominous in entering a 
huge barrack such as this, devoted to the care of willfully 
deserted infancy. The chief officer, a Russian exquisite, who 
conducted us over the building, spoke, and appeared to feel, 
like a showman. As for the inmates, he was quite unpitying. 
He looked for our deepest sympathy as he informed us that 
everyday it was his duty to walk through the well-kept 
wards. There is nothing to be seen like the dramatic cradle 
in which, at dead of night, the tearful, frightened mother de- 
posits her new-born babe, and reels, swooning with terror and 
agitation, into the dark background, after she has sounded, 
with feverish grasp, the knell of her maternal joys and anxie- 
ties. In Moscow we find the State encouraorinsc the increase 
of population, and, with the least formality and utmost open- 
ness, relieving all who choose to bring their infants, from the 
burden, the cost, and responsibilities of parentage. 

Two women, friends, as they said, of the mother of the babe 
w^hich one of them carried, entered the building shortly after 
we arrived. The child was not six hours old. According to 
the usual rule, there were but two questions asked — one to 
learn whether the child had been baptized, and if so, by what 
name. It was not officially a member of the Orthodox 
Church, and therefore svas only described in the books by 
the number which ifwould from that time bear in the Found- 
ling Hospital. This "\vas the twenty -ninth child that had 
been received that day, and ten more would probably be reg- 
istered before midnight. The baby was washed in a room 
adjoining the place of reception, dressed in the swaddling- 
clothes of the establishment, which, unlike the long clothes of 
English infancy, are swathed almost tightly about the limbs, 
and carried up - stairs to a large, long ward, where it was 



44 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAX. 

placed, feet to feet, with another baby, in a curtained cradle, 
about the centre of the Avard, its number being hung round 
its neck, and also fixed on the cradle above its head. Down- 
stairs we had seen a number of robust peasant-women seek- 
ing employment as nurses in these wards. The pay and ra- 
tions are so good, and there are such substantial advantages 
in obtaining babies as boarders when they and their wet- 
nurses leave the hospital, that these places are eagerly sought; 
and it is said that a mother not unfrequently leaves her in- 
fant, or sends it to the hospital, and then applies for the posi- 
tion of nurse, in order that both may be maintained by the 
State. 

The inspecting officer informed us that these women re- 
ceive seven rubles a month and a gratuity, as a reward for 
good behavior while they are serving in the hospital ; and 
that when they leave it is usual for them to take away a baby, 
to be boarded out in their family, for the care of which they 
are paid two rubles per month. If the children are healthy, 
they are usually sent out, after vaccination, when they are 
ten days old. Each nurse has the care of two infants lying 
in the same cradle. In the wards the nurses wear a becom- 
ing uniform, with caps of scarlet. The arrangements, tem- 
perature, and cleanliness of the wards are admirable. It 
struck me that a little noise w^ould have sounded more health- 
ful and natural than the painful silence of these regiments of, 
for the most part, dumb cradles. Especially was this sad 
feature noticeable in the sick ward, where there were many 
cases of ophthalmia. But the most curious of all was the 
ward devoted, as the foppish officer said, to " les enfants nes 
avant termef those which had come prematurely into the 
w^orld, and were now in wadded and flanneled cradles of cop- 
per — hot-water cradles, in fact, the heat of which was main- 
tained and regulated with the most careful precision. 

There may be, even in England, differences of opinion as 



CATHEDRAL OF ST. BASIL. 45 

to the morality and advantage of an institution such as this, 
which deals in the manner I have described with nearly fif- 
teen thousand infants every year. To me it appears to be an 
approach, dangerous to the morality of a people, to that form 
of Communism which is especially to be dreaded. It re- 
wards, at the cost of all, the deliberate desertion of the most 
sacred duties and obligations of parentage. It tends to de- 
grade women by relieving them and the men witli whom 
they associate from the responsibilities of childbirth : it 
places upon the careful, affectionate, and dutiful parents, in 
their capacity as tax -payers, the burden of maintaining the 
offspring of those Avho have none of these virtues. On the 
other hand, we can not doubt that it prevents infanticide in 
many cases, and promotes the peopling of the vast wastes of 
Russia. But it can hardly be denied that, while thus en- 
couraging population, it is indirectly responsible for the 
deaths of thousands of infants, because it is on record that 
the mortality of this hospital is terribly high, and that scarce- 
ly more than twenty- five per cent, of the infants committed 
to its care lived to learn, as men and women, the circum- 
stances of their childhood. 

We will return to the heights of the Kremlin, from which 
we made this digression, and descend through the holy gate 
to that part of the space before the Kitai-Gorod in which 
stands the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed, a church far 
more remarkable in its architecture than any other in Mos- 
cow. It is said that when the First N^apoleon saw this min- 
iature cathedral, with its grotesque irregularities of outline, 
he ordered the commander of his artillery to " destroy that 
mosque." But indeed the Cathedral of St. Basil has little re- 
semblance to a mosque. It is perhaps the best example of 
that queer admixture of Indo - Persian, Tartar - Chinese, and 
Grseco-Byzantine architecture, which may fairly be called the 
Russian style. The Cathedral of St. Basil, of which only the 



46 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 

crypt is used for divine service, is all towers and domes. 
These cupolas, or domes, in their colors of red and green, as 
well as in shape, resemble huge inverted onions, the upturned 
"root" finished with a gilded cross. Of the eleven domes, 
no two are alike in superficial ornamentation ; one or two are 
painted in bands, which will certainly suggest the vegetable 
comparison above mentioned. One is indented like the sur- 
face of a i^ine-apple, others are decorated with ^^atterus that 
are decidedly arabesque, and the highest of all is elongated 
with a multiplicity of ornament into something like a spire ; 
yet perhaps the cupolas are not the most curious part of the 
church, of which every portion is colored. One is hardly sur- 
prised to find the maze of small chapels above the crypt un- 
used ; they are too intricate. 

The whole building does not cover more ground than the 
Albert Memorial in Hyde Park. Dull red and green seem to 
be the prevailing colors ; but the church is so bewildering 
that one can hardly feel certain about any part of it. It is 
just such a church as one might suppose had been built by or 
for a lunatic ; then it appears not inappropriate. The riddle 
of its architecture seems to be solved when one learns that St. 
Basil, though regarded by many as a prophet and worker of 
miracles, was probably one whom in these degenerate days 
we should call a harmless simpleton ; and the church, fortu- 
nately uninjured by the French, was finished in the latter part 
of the sixteenth century by a Tsar, who, to the bones of Basil, 
added those of John the Idiot. In religion, the Russian peo- 
ple have a tenderness for lunacy and idiocy which I suspect 
has now and then taken ultimately the form of canonization. 
John the Idiot is certainly a saint — a religious mendicant who 
in his life-time, we are told, was known as "Water-carrier," or 
"Big-cap," because he was ready to bear others' burdens of 
water, and from the iron cap he wore. St. John the Idiot's 
cap was lost during the Napoleonic invasion ; but the' weights 



THE IBERIAN CHAPEL. 47 

and chains which he and St. Basil are supposed to have used 
for the mortification of their life are preserved in the chap- 
els. At all events, their reputation is fitly enshrined in the 
most bizarre and fantastic church in Europe. 

Of about the same date is the circular rostrum, or pulpit of 
stone, about four yards in diameter, with a surrounding seat 
inside, which stands in the large open place near the Church 
of St. Basil. This was the platform from which the Tsars 
made solemn promises, and the patriarchs administered bless- 
ings to the people. It is called Lobnoe Mesto; and at other 
towns in Russia there are similar tribunes. Passing this un- 
interesting monument in a line from the Cathedral of St. Ba- 
sil, and entering the Kitai-Gorod, one is in front of the princi- 
pal entrance — the Voskreneski gate — of the " Chinese Town." 
Just outside that gate there is to be seen one of the most re- 
markable sights in Moscow — and, indeed, in all Russia. In 
no other European country is there such an exhibition of what 
is called religious devotion. Before the stout wall of brick- 
work, which separates the outcoming from the ingoing way, 
is the Iberian Chapel (Iverskaya Chasovnia), architecturally 
nothing but a large-sized hut of stone, or a platform raised by 
two steps above the road-way. From morning till night this 
platform is thronged, and the chapel overflows with a crowd, 
chiefly composed of men, pressing, all bare - headed, and all 
with money in their hands, toward the narrow door-way of 
the little sanctuary. 

We were some time getting into the chapel, which will hold 
about ten people abreast, and is lighted by the flickering glare 
of a score of candles. There is a step at the farther end, and 
the wall opposite the door is resplendent with shining metal, 
except where the object of this extravagant devotion looks 
grimy through its frame-work of gold. On the left side of 
"The Iberian Mother of God" — which is the name given to 
this commonplace daub, supposed to possess miraculous pow- 



48 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

ers — stands a long-haired priest, now and then relieved by 
another long-haired, deep-voiced priest, who, hour by hour, 
in the name of the jeweled and tinseled picture, and with 
blessing, consecrates the prayers and offerings of the faithful. 
Only the face of the Madonna is visible, and in the candle- 
light it is not easy to distinguish the features beneath the 
dust of years. But not a minute passes in which the rattle of 
money, falling to the uses of the Russian Church, is not heard, 
or in which lips are not pressed upon the frame-work, or upon 
the rudely wrought robes of beaten gold, which conceal the 
picture to the neck. Surely no lower depth of superstitious 
degradation was ever reached in connection with Christian 
worship ! One can not be surprised that to a Turk a Russian 
seems to be an idolatrous worshiper of pictures. The refining 
explanation which the most enlightened fathers of the Greek 
Church could offer concerning this disgusting exhibition is 
precisely of the sort, and differs only in degree, from that 
which might be offered on behalf of the idol-worshipers of 
more Eastern and Southern lands. The picture has no his- 
toric reputation. It was brought from Mount Athos, that 
pleasant wooded hill, peopled with monkish drones, who so 
distrust their masculine instincts that not onlymay no woman 
enter their charming territory, and enjoy the lovely view sea- 
ward over the blue Levant, but no hen may be brought to 
their table ; though it is not on record that they refuse eggs 
which, if hatched, would produce female birds. About twelve 
thousand pounds a year is collected in coppers at this chapel, 
and from this sum the salary of the Metropolitan of Moscow 
is paid. Time has been when, in the ceremonies which pre- 
cede Easter, the Tsar of Russia used to lead the donkey on 
which the Patriarch of Moscow rode, carrying a sacred chalice 
and a copy of the Gospels. Nowadays that ceremony is neg- 
lected ; but we are given to understand that the Tsar never 
enters Moscow without assisting the revenues of this distin- 



MOTTO FEOM TEOITSA. 49 

guished ecclesiastical officer, by praying at the shrine of the 
" Iberian Mother of God." In reading Dean Stanley's " Lect- 
ures on the Eastern Church," I am disposed to wonder at the 
patience with which he tolerates degrading and grossly super- 
stitious observances. I can not pretend to equal moderation 
in sight of these things. It may be that he has taken to heart, 
as I can not, the archiepiscopal inscription near the famous 
monastery of Troitsa : " Let not him who comes in here carry 
out the dirt that he finds within." 

3 



50 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAYAN. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Road to Nijni. — Rivers Oka and Volga. — Nijni. — The Bridge of Boats. 
— The Heights of Nijni. — Lopachef's Hotel. — A Famous Landscape. — 
Prisoners for Siberia. — Their Wives and Children. — The Great Fair. — 
The Last Bargains. — Caravan Tea. — Persian Merchants. — Buildings of 
the Fair. — Gloves and Furs. — Russian Tea-dealers. — Mosque at Nijni. — 
Shows and Theatres. — Russia vs. Free Trade. — Russian Hardware. — Ar- 
ticles de Paris. — Melons and Grapes. — The Governor's Palace. — Pictur- 
esque Nijni. 

Though it is only the 20th of September, the air is keen 
and frosty, as we drive to the Moscow station of the Nijni- 
!N"ovgorod Railway. We have a sleepy recollection of the 
comfort of some hot soup at Vladimir. When we awoke in 
the morning, at no great distance from Nijni, the window- 
glasses of the railway-carriage were covered with hoar-frost, 
and the ground was hard as iron. We soon beheld the Volga, 
flowing in a broad, yellowish stream past the height on which 
the official town of Nijni stands ; and from the opposite side 
of the carriage, as we approach the buildings of the world- 
famous Fair, we can see the lesser stream of the river Oka in 
its course to the point where it gives itself to the Volga, the 
site of the Fair being upon the angle between the two rivers. 
The sun was shining warmly, and the rugged pavement in the 
main street of the Fair was ankle -deep in mud, which our 
rattling droschky threw up on all sides. The driver, like all 
Russian coachmen, had his coat gathered at the waist, and 
sat upon the ample skirts with a rein of rope in each hand, 
" p-r-r-r-r-ing " his horses along at a rate which would be pun- 
ishable in London. It is, however, done at Nijni, though 
there upon the road are crowded carts loaded with cotton, 



NIJNI-NOVGOEOD. 51 

tea, and melons, and people of every Eastern nation, many of 
whom come from lands where a wheel is never seen, where 
merchandise is of necessity carried by mnles or camels. 

What a thundering the scampering hoofs of our horses and 
the rumble of our wheels seem to make as we pass on to the 
planked bridge of boats by which we must cross the Volga 
to reach the town of Nijni-Novgorod ! From this point the 
view of the town is very picturesque. Close to the bridge 
the ground rises abruptly to a height^about two hundred and 
fifty feet, and the summit is crowned with the chief buildings 
of the place. Overlooking the river, the united stream of the 
Volga and the Oka, there.is the white-walled Kremlin, inclos- 
ing not only the governor's residence, a pleasant garden, and 
the barracks of a considerable garrison, but also the principal 
church, the emerald-green cupolas of which show in pleasant 
contrast to the unvarying white of the walls. Along the 
ridge, and from the banks of the Volga up the slope, is placed 
the town of Nijni. We rattle along the street, past the stalls 
where men and women are selling huge water-melons, cut in 
radiating slices at something less than a farthing for a pound- 
weight of the fruit, which looks delicious in the rapidly in- 
creasing heat of the day; past tawdry shrines of St. Nicholas 
and St. Isaac, before which long - haired and heavily booted 
peasants are bowing their bare heads nearly to their knees ; 
past a church built very much after the style of that of St. 
Basil in Moscow; mounting always and at last through a 
deep, grassy cutting, which has the Kremlin on one side, and 
on the other a group of prettily colored villas, the palest blue 
or green, soft red and primrose yellow, all with bright-green 
roofs of wood or metal, to the high table-land, where we are 
first in the great " place" of Nijni, and then in a wide street, 
in which is Lopachef's Hotel. 

There is a terrible smell of stale tobacco inside Lopachef's 
closed door; but we have only to choose between Lopachef 



52 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

and Soboref, and the latter is Russian vapor bath as well as 
hotel. We are, without doubt, in the best hotel in Nijni, 
though there are no carpets on any of the floors, no sheets on 
the beds, and nothing but the invariable hors cVmuvres of a 
Russian dinner — arrack, uncooked sardines, caviare, and rad- 
ishes, to relieve our immediate hunger. There is, of course, 
a picture of a saint, all but the head covered with tinseled 
robes, in one corner of the dining-room ; a lamp burns beneath 
it, the light hardly discernible in the brightness of approach- 
ing noon. Soup and cutlets, with something more drinkable 
than the alcohol of Russia, are, however, soon before us; and 
in an hour or two we are strolling to the front of the high 
ground to enjoy the famous prospect — a view so extensive as 
to be limited only by the clearness of the air and of one's eye- 
sight. From left all round to right, the foreground appears 
flat ; the windings of the Volga and the Oka can be traced, 
like those of ribbon on a vast table, flowing through miles of 
sandy plain, varied with patches of pine forest, and smaller 
areas in which cultivation has reclaimed the soil. The steam- 
boats move Uke elongated dots. We can trace the ground- 
plan of the Fair, which is more than a mile distant, and see 
its myriad life moving to and fro like that of ant-hills. An 
unceasing stream of carts and droschkies pours, during the 
months of the Fair, across the bridge of boats. The scene is 
one to be remembered in company with that from the Krem- 
lin of Moscow. 

The usual quiet of this part of Nijni was broken, as we re- 
turned to the hotel, by the tramp of armed men. They were 
guarding a long procession of prisoners, who were making 
forced marches to Siberia. The soldiers slouched along, look- 
ing hardly less miserable, dusty, and travel-stained than the 
wretched people whom they watched with fixed bayonets and 
drawn swords. The prisoners marched, some four and others 
six abreast, between the files of soldiers. Some were chained 



THE GEE AT FAIR. 53 

in couples, others tramped alone, and all were apparently of 
the lower classes. There were three or four hundred con- 
victs, as nearly as I could count. Very little talk was pass- 
ing among them, and the soldiers, with sword or bayonet, 
rudely kept off: any one who approached within their reach. 
All traffic was suspended while the long line passed. The 
prisoners were followed by twenty-seven wagons, loaded with 
the poor baggage of their families, upon which the women 
and children were uneasily mounted, among whom lay a few 
elderly or sick men. These women were the wives who were 
willing to accomjDany their condemned husbands, and to set- 
tle in Siberia at least for the term of their husbands' sentence, 
which in no case is less than four years. If the wives choose 
to go, they must take their children, and all submit to the 
degradation and rigors of surveillance and imprisonment. 
The pavements of ISTijni are the worst imaginable; and as 
these springless vehicles (which were not really w^agons, but 
simply four fir poles fastened at obtuse angles on wheels) jolt- 
ed over the uneven bowlders, the poor children were shaken 
high out of their wretched seat at nearly every yard of the 
journey. Soldiers with drawn swords walked beside these 
cart-loads of weakness and childhood. It was very touching 
to see the old men and the sick painfully lift themselves when- 
ever they passed a church, and with the sadness of eternal 
farewell, uncover their miserable heads and cross their breasts 
devoutly as they were borne along in their terrible journey to 
Siberia. For another month or six weeks these wretched peo- 
ple, or such of them as survived, would be traveling to their 
dreaded settlement, which, however, I believe, is somewhat 
better than the Siberia with which our novelists and play- 
wrights have made us familiar. 

A pleasanter sight was that of the great Fair. Now is the 
time for the last bargains in the greatest Fair in the world — 
an international exposition half a dozen times as large as that 



54 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

which in 1851 set us all thinking the millennium had arrived 
when Prince Albert's ideas and Paxton's plans were realized 
in Hyde Park. What shall we buy? There is a sharp-eyed 
tea-merchant watching our movements, hoping to get rid of 
vet one or two more of those square seventy -pound bundles 
of tea piled at the door of his store. The tea is in a light 
chest, which has been cased before it left China in a damp 
bullock's hide, the stitching of which has been strained and 
hardened in the long caravan journey over Central Asian des- 
erts. Thinking that we may perhaps purchase, he makes a 
sign of encouragement, and forthwith rams an iron bodkin, 
three feet long, and shaped like a cheese -scoop, but with a 
solid, pointed end, into the tea, twists it, and produces a 
fragrant sample. He is one of hundreds of tea -merchants 
who have hired a stall in the Fair ; and, in compliment to the 
commodity, the roofs in this part are built pagoda-fashion, 
but, like all the rest, the tea-stores are sheds of timber and 
brick, placed together in long parallel lines, sheltered from 
sun and rain by a rough arcade, upon the brick pavement of 
which purchasers and idlers pass along. 

More attractive, perhaps, than the tea-dealer is the Persian 
opposite, whose dark eyes gleam with desire to sell any thing 
in his store. He has carpets of soft colors, such as the sons 
of Iran best know how to blend, carpets heavy as himself, to 
cover large rooms ; small carpets ; mere handf uls, on which 
the faithful may kneel in orthodox Mohammedan fashion five 
times a day, fixing their eyes in the direction of Mecca. He 
has books ; here is a copy of the Koran, bound in Tabriz, 
marble -backed, with yellow - edged leaves, like some of our 
older editions — a book which, for two rubles, any one, no 
matter whether his faith is centred at Mecca or Jerusalem, 
anywhere or nowhere, may put in his pocket. This bright- 
eyed merchant might be shown in London for the Shah, 
whom he much resembles; and if, in his high- standing cap 



BUILDINGS AT THE FAIE. 55 

of black lamb-skin, his grass-green tunic, and his scarlet-lined 
overcoat, he were to appear at Charing Cross surrounded by 
two or three of his own traveling-trunks, which are also for 
sale, by way of luggage, he would be sure, as a traveling 
" sensation," to achieve legitimate success. He presses, with 
a gay smile, upon our attention one of the chests, Avhich is 
painted bright vermilion, cross - barred, like Malvolio's legs, 
with bands of black ; but he has another of green and black, 
and a third of yellow, with blue bands of iron ; and if one 
had the boldness requisite for traveling in such illustrious 
company, these trunks would certainly obviate all difficulty 
as to recognizing one's luggage in the customary and truly 
British scramble at any London terminus. 

We see at a glance that any one who wishes to have a true 
idea of Nijni must get rid at once and forever of any notion 
of an English fair, by way of comparison. On the Volga 
they mean business, not pleasure ; and the Fair is held in 
buildings infinitely ruder and simpler in construction, but 
quite as permanent as those of the Lowther Arcade. For 
about half the year these are closed, and the straight lines of 
the parallel streets of the Fair are only tenanted by sparrows, 
picking up the last, traces of the great gathering. The site 
is flat, but in Fair-time the roads between the long rows of 
sheds are worn into rivulets of filth, or into heaps and hol- 
lows of dust. Not one man in five wears a leather shoe; 
the rest, those who do not go barefoot, are for the most part 
content with sandals made of dried grass, bound over thick 
woolen stockings with wisps of the same vegetable. 

There is a great deal of genuine barter going on. In one 
sense, indeed, it may be truly said that no one at this gath- 
ering has "ready" money. Here are two Persian boys bar- 
gaining for a ring which has surely come from one of the 
fabriqiies cVimitation of Paris. The process is long. Twen- 
ty copecks, perhaps, divide seller and buyer, and it may be 



56 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 

that part of this difference will disappear in talk to-day, 
and the remainder to-morrow or the day after. Three Tar- 
tars, dressed in ragged sheep-skins, have their slanting eyes, 
that unmistakable mark of race, fixed upon the gay glories 
of a cotton handkerchief, which I hope is Manchester, but 
fear is Moscow, work. And so it goes on all through the 
busy town, or commercial camj), which is called the Fair of 
Nijni-Novgorod. Not rarely does a bargain take three days 
in the making. What Adam Smith calls the " higgling of 
the market" is a tremendous business at the Russian mart. 
"Small profits and quick returns" is not the Nijni motto. 
Prices are all "fancy." It is not easy to get at the relation 
of supply and demand. The dealer asks twice or three times 
the legitimate value, and then engages in a wordy duel with 
the purchaser, in which by - standers are quite at liberty to 
"jine in," as a Yankee would say. 

Out from his perpetual throne upon the bergs and amidst 
the fogs of the North, the Ice-king will come in a few weeks, 
sealing, as he passes, the land and the rivers of Russia; and 
consequently no small portion of the work of the Fair is di- 
rected toward providing for his reception. Thick woolen 
and leather gloves are largely iDOught by the hairiest peasant- 
ry in Europe — men whose long back-hair and beards run into 
and seem intermixed with the wool of the dirty sheep-skins 
which cover them from head to foot. All these gloves have 
that well-known peculiarity of shape (common also to the 
gloves of English infancy) which Charles Dickens so happily 
described as made up wdth a parlor for the thumb and a 
common tap-room for the fingers. Of course there are furs 
— piles upon piles of fur — but this article of dress or orna- 
ment is not cheap at Nijni, and the kinds of fur most worn 
in England are not to be seen. There is no seal -skin, and 
but little sable or ermine. Black fox and silver fox, wolf 
and bear skin, and commoner furs for lining, are much sold. 



RUSSIAN TEA-DEALERS. 57 

Desperately anxious upon these last September days of the 
Fair, which opens in May, are the dealers to sell their re- 
maining stock of cloth coats lined with fur — the shuba — so 
much worn in Russia. The prices rise from eight pounds to 
one hundred pounds, according to the sort of fur. 

A Russian will be warm, at any sacrifice of elegance in his 
person or of ventilation in his home; but he has another re- 
quirement not less imperative — he must have in his ill-ven- 
tilated house a tinseled picture of the head of Christ, or of 
some saint; if a saint, then it is generally the one after whom 
he is named. There is not a baptismal name in common use 
throughout Russia which is not that of a saint — which has 
not a saint to father it; and so it happens that when all the 
Alexanders or Alexises in a village celebrate, with all the ar- 
rack they can get, the return of their name-day, a sort of 
brotherhood often becomes established between people who 
have received the same name at the ecclesiastical font. A 
roughly built country cart has just passed carrying off a pur- 
chase, a large head of Christ, the conventional face looking 
out from a setting of tawdry ormolu, the whole framed in 
vulgar, gaudy gilt. Two men are holding the frame, to keep 
it from contact with the sides of the cart, which rumbles and 
tumbles along the uneven way ; and as it goes, peasants and 
dealers uncover their heads and make most reverently the 
sign of the cross upon their bodies before this article of mer- 
chandise. 

It is ten o'clock, and here are two men swinging back the 
iron doors of their shed to begin business for the day. They 
are Russian tea-dealers. With feet placed close together, 
with cap in hand, they bow in deep obeisance three times to- 
ward the nearest church, crossing themselves, as they bend, 
before they unfasten the padlocks ; and then, on gaining the 
floor of their shops, they repeat the religious bowing, which 
in the Greek Church never takes the form of genuflection, 

3* 



58 THEOIJGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

the knees, in fact, being almost the only joint that is not 
bent. 

Last summer we met with a cottier farmer in Ireland who 
had given two hundred pounds toward the building fund of a 
Roman Catholic chapel, which was being erected in the par- 
ish wherein he lived. The sum was immense for a man in 
his position, and people were naturally inquisitive on the sub- 
ject. To one who asked why he had subscribed so largely 
he said, " I want to have a claim on the Almighty ;" and I am 
sure I do these Russians no wrong in believing that these os- 
tentatious shop prayers of theirs are in part a demonstration, 
and in part concerned with averting the influence of the devil 
of the Greek Church from their till. 

The " religious difiiculty " is nicely settled at Nijni. In the 
interest of Russian trade, the Crescent is lifted to the skies 
high as the Cross. Raised somewhat upon an artificial mound, 
near the centre of the Fair, is a mosque, probably the most 
E"orthern mosque in Europe. In the small court-yard, a stal- 
wart moollah was making signs of direction to a Tartar 
dwarf — a hunchback, and in rags ; a deaf-mute, whose glit- 
tering-eyes fixed greedily upon us as we advanced to visit the 
mosque. Perhaps the moollah in charge had not done well 
at the Fair ; he looked sad as we walked with him over the 
floor of his church, which was covered with clean matting, on 
which a few of the commonest sort of Persian carpets were 
laid. Probably he was sad at the thought that the glories 
and the work of the great Fair were nearly over. 

One finds no trace whatever, on entering a mosque, of the 
anti-human principles which are taught there from the words 
of the Koran. In the air of a mosque there is no taint of 
vengeance, of slavery, of polygamy, of deadly animosity to- 
ward dissent. One contrasts rather the purity and simplicity 
of the place of worship, the grateful absence of any stupid at- 
tempt to personify the Infinite in mortal forms, with the de- 



SHOWS AND THEATRE. 59 

grading and meretricious attractions of a Greek or Roman 
churchj with the trumpery, vulgar images of saints and vir- 
gins, images of persons, some not only without real claim to 
reverence, but rather deserving, as re^^ressors of civilization, 
the forgetfulness, if not the contempt, of mankind; objects 
of conventional regard, which not one worshiper in ten thou- 
sand could explain or account for by any well-informed state- 
ment of the saint's claim. The mosque of Nijni was, like all 
mosques throughout the world, a temple without trace of sect. 
We passed from it into the adjacent church for the people of 
the Fair who are of the orthodox Russian faith ; and there a 
priest in sumptuous raiment was bringing bass notes appar- 
ently from somewhere about the region of the stomach, after 
the most admired manner of priests of that communion, and, 
as he paused to take breath, kissing pictures on the screen, 
gluing his worship and praise with his lips to the frame- 
work of these daubs, and to the sham jewels in the cover of 
the copy of the Gosj)els which lay before him. Over the way 
stood an Armenian church, a nearer approximation to Rome. 
l!^o limitation to pictures with flat robes of gold or silver in 
that place of worship ! There they may go the whole animal, 
so far as images are concerned. 

Xot distant from the churches is the principal theatre of 
the Fair, a wooden building, in which, at the time of our 
visit, one might see — so the bills said — " the unapproachable 
Hickin Family." These were the only words in English (and 
perhaps Mr. Hickin would tell us these words are "Ameri- 
can ") which we observed within the Fair. There was, how- 
ever, one unquestionable exception. The heap of " Three- 
cord Knitting" on a stall near the governor's house must 
surely have been of English manufacture. 

If I remember rightly, Mr. Cobden made a tour in Russia, 
and then formed no very high opinion of the solidarity or 
strength of the Empire, especially for external warfare. I 



GO THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

never heard that he visited Nijni, and I hardly think it pos- 
sible that he could have been there in the Fair-time, without 
leavinsc such a record of his visit as it would not have been 
easy to forget. Had he been there, his patriotic soul would 
surely have poured over with contempt for the commercial 
policy of Russia, and with longing for the universal reign of 
free trade. We passed scores of stalls covered with hard- 
ware of all sorts — knives, padlocks, door -locks, tools, nails, 
household cutlery and utensils — all of miserably inferior man- 
ufacture, the blades and fastenings bearing the mark of War- 
saw, but most often of Moscow, or some other Russian town. 
Tens of thousands of these useful articles had passed within 
the four preceding months, and were passing daily during 
our visit, from Nijni into Asia. What a trade might Mr. 
Bright's constituents do in this way if it were not for the 
prohibitory rates of the Russian tariff ! and how soon would 
Russians, of Europe and of Asia, learn to appreciate the dif- 
ference between a Sheffield or Birmingham blade and the 
home-made knives of coarse iron, which are forced upon 
them at a price for which they could obtain English manu- 
facture, from a mistaken belief that this provision of inferior 
articles to the many for the benefit of the few is advanta- 
geous to the general welfare of the Russian Empire ! Of 
the vast quantity of cotton goods in the Fair, some look like 
Manchester pieces, but much is certainly the inferior work 
of Russian hands. There is no mistaking the " IsTouveautes 
de Paris," which are to be met with on all sides ; buttons, 
especially ornamental buttons, gayly ribboned slippers, pict- 
ures of women beautiful in face and very much decolletees 
as to dress, figures in lewd attitudes, some representing the 
performance of the cancan — very salable in Persia — parcels 
of scent, toys of all kinds, and musical instruments. The 
large and open demand for Parisian pictures of the lascivious 
sort in Mohammedan countries is worth volumes of printed 



THE GOVERNOE's PALACE. 61 

commentary upon the teaching of the Koran. These pict- 
ures, which a gar9on of the Quartier Latin would thinlc it 
bold and roue- like to display upon the Avails of his garret, 
are, in Persia and Turkey, paraded in the family apartments, 
and treasured in photographic albums in recesses which an- 
swer to the drawing-room tables of Western Europe ; nor is 
it common for any father to hesitate in illustrating conversa- 
tion carried on in presence of his sons by indecent reference 
to these erotic productions, which are usually the Avork of 
Frenchmen, unless the taste of the khan or effendi leans to 
the less veiled and coarser indelicacy of German work. But 
this is premature ; we are not yet in Persian houses. In the 
Nijni Fair, Parisian spoons seem to tickle most successfully 
Asiatic fancy, while prosaic and solid-working Germany con- 
tributes stockings and strWinpfbdnde^ less elegant than the 
jarretieres de Paris. 

Floating through the Fair are the sellers of wnter-raelons, 
shouting " arhus^'' a-r-r-r-r hu-u-s^'' at the top of their voices. 
But they are silent often when the glistening red inside of 
the huge fruit attracts thirsty buyers of slices at one copeck 
each. Others, armed with scale and weights, vend luscious 
grapes just arrived by steamboat from the shores of the 
Caspian. One can not go far without meeting a man loaded 
with furry caps, much worn in Russia. About the centre of 
the Fair is the governor's " palace," in W' hich the Duke of 
Edinburgh lately staid. It has an unusual, and, I believe for 
a palace, unique feature, in the emblazonment of " Cafe Res- 
taurant " upon the wall of the ground-floor. This is in Rus- 
sian letters, of course, and it tempts one to enter. Being a 
Russian cafe, it is without ventilation, and the fumes of 
smoke — to say nothing of the mingled smell of soup, of oily 
fish, of tea, and of greasy people in heavy costumes bearing 
the dirt of years — prevent any immediate certainty as to 
whether it is the governor in person, or a young lady of 



62 • THROUGH PERSIA BT CARAVAl^. 

Nijni, to whom so many guests on leaving are paying their 
addresses and their copecks. It is a young lady ; and there 
is no connection between the cafe and the apartments of the 
first floor, which lately sheltered the illustrious son-in-law 
of the Tsar. 

The lively aspect of the Fair spreads upward to the roofs, 
which, as one sees from the top of this building, are all paint- 
ed red or green. One sees, too, the " life " of the Fair, not 
only coursing over all the land between the two rivers, but 
extending to the barges, the steamboats, and the shallow-bot- 
tomed vessels of every shape which are moored upon the 
sandy shores. 

Nijni is, as I have said, very picturesque and very dirty. 
One way of making a picturesque town is to take a site some- 
what irregular and rocky, and to plant houses washed with 
different colors, including blue, yellow, and salmon color, in 
gardens; cover these habitations with roofs painted red or 
green, let the intervals be filled in with trees and shrubs, most 
of them old and large, the leaves showing varied tints of au- 
tumn ; raise here and there a green or gilded cupola of some 
Byzantine church ; secure over all a blue sky, made bright 
with the genial warmth of the shining sun ; the result will be 
pleasing, and will much resemble Nijni as it appears toward 
the end of September. 



TICKETS FOR TWO THOUSAND MILES. 63 



CHAPTER V. 

Leaving Nijni. — The Imrevna Marie. — Tickets for Two Thousand Miles. — 
Our Fellow-passengers. — The Alexander II. — Kazan. — Mohammedans in 
Eussia. — Our Lady of Kazan. — "No Sheets!" — Oriental Cleanliness. — 
Russian Climate and Clothing. — Orientalism in Russia. — Persian Prayers. 
— A Shi'ah's Devotions. — Shallowness of the Volga. — The River Kama. 
— Hills about Simbirsk. — Samara. — Mare's-milk Cure. — Volsk. — Saratof. 
— Tartar Population. — Prisoners for the Caucasus Tsaritzin. — Sarepta. — 
Gingerbread and Mustard. — Chorney Yar. — A Peasant Mayor. — Tartar 
Fishermen. — Astrakhan. — Mouths of the Volga. — Raising Level of the 
Caspian. 

It was not at all an easy matter in Nijni, a town of forty- 
five thousand inhabitants, to find a person who could speak 
even a few words of any language other than Russian, or the 
Arabic patois of the Russian Tartars. But the captain of the 
Tsaremia 3Iarie, a rather high and mighty man, in fur coat 
and fur-lined boots, could talk German, and with his assistance 
we obtained, for one hundred and twenty-six rubles, two tick- 
ets, entitling us to a separate cabin from Nijni down the Vol- 
ga to Astrakhan (a river journey of about fourteen hundred 
miles), and from Astrakhan, again south, for the whole length 
(more than six hundred miles) of the Caspian Sea to the Per- 
sian landing-place of Enzelli. The steamboats of this part 
of the world, in waters which have neither ingress nor exit 
for shipping, are the pride of all the mooring-places, though 
they are not of native manufacture. They are built in other 
countries by foreigners, and brought in pieces to the banks of 
the Volga. It has always been so in Russia. The first ves- 
sel of war ever built in Russia was put together this way at 
Nijni by a company of merchants from Holstein, who in the 



64 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAX. 

seventeenth century obtained permission to force a trade with 
Persia and India by way of the Volga and the Caspian. 

From the considerable town of Twer to its larsfest mouth 
in the Caspian Sea, the Volga carries steamboats for about 
eighteen hundred miles, into such a change of climate that 
one sees passengers who are wrapped, chrysalis-like, in furs 
and rugs at I^ijni, transformed into a butterfly lightness and 
gayety of costume at Astrakhan. We left Nijni at the time 
of year when the boats are most crowded, and the deck saloon 
of the Tsarevna Marie was not exactly delightful. Though 
female as well as male passengers were at liberty to smoke in 
every part of the vessel, and certainly did not neglect the priv- 
ilege, there was a prejudice against open windows which one 
finds nowhere so strong as among the stove-grown people of 
Russia. Literally, the Russian women of the richer classes 
are reared in hot-houses, and have the characteristics of fruit 
so produced. They have less vitality than women of other 
countries, and their beauty — exquisite as it sometimes shows 
itself — fades more quickly. We struggle, and at last resign 
ourselves to the disagreeable accompaniments of the journe3\ 

We travel with the stream. We are all returning from the 
Fair of Xijui — a heavy boat-load. Our fellow-passengers are 
Russians from the least civilized parts of the European Em- 
pire, Persians from Resht and Teheran, Armenians and Geor- 
gians from the Caucasus, Tartars from the Lower Volga. We 
are the only English on board. Our neighbors' clothes are of 
many colors and shapes, and this many-colored variety is the 
striking feature of their luggage. The Christians of the su- 
perior class eat royal sturgeon in cutlets, and delicate sterlet 
mostly in soup ; while the more picturesque Mohammedans on 
the deck are content with unleavened bread and grapes, or 
water-melons. All of us, without distinction of creed or coun- 
try, drink tea; the engine boiler has a tap on deck from which 
the Mohammedan kettles and those of the poorer Christians 



THE "ALEXANDER II." 65 

are supplied with hot water. In the saloon we take tea d la 
JRusse — in glasses, and amazingly weak. I venture to abuse 
tlie Russian mode of taking warm water with the faintest col- 
oring of tea, which at once brings down the national wrath of 
a passenger, who declares that the English "boil" their tea, 
and will have it no other way but " cooked " like broth or 
soup. 

When it was wet and cold, on the way from Nijni-Kovgo- 
rod to Kazan, the poorer Christians on board the Tsarevina 
Marie drank corn -brandy largely, while the Mohammedans 
hid themselves beneath their carpets and muttered hopes of 
reaching a better land. At Kazan, we were transferred to 
the Alexander II., a very large vessel, her white hull tower- 
ing five-and-twenty feet above the water. She is built upon 
the plan of those Hudson River and Mississippi steamboats 
which have so long made river traveling in America most 
comfortable. She has two floors or stories above the water, 
into which she presses nowhere to a greater depth than four 
feet, and the first and second class saloons and sleeping-cabins, 
with their surrounding galleries, are entirely shut off from 
the under story or main deck, where are the third-class pas- 
sengers, and where the cargo is received, and the crew are 
busy in making the vessel fast at the numerous stations on 
the river. In September, no vessel drawing four feet of wa- 
ter can get up the river to Nijni, and, for our j^arts, we were 
by.no means sorry to quit the narrower limits of the Tsa- 
remia Marie for the splendid saloon and ample space of the 
Alexander 11, which, after assuring us that she is " the first 
ship on the river," the captain said was built in Belgium, sent 
in pieces to Russia, and put together on the banks of the 
Volga. There is time to drive to Kazan, of which, though 
it is three miles distant, we might see something from the 
river if the banks were not so high as to render this impos- 
sible. 



66 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

The first sight of Kazan, a town of eighty thousand inhab- 
itants, impresses one with a sense of the error of supposing 
that Russia in Europe is exclusively inhabited by Christians. 
We had, in 1868, seen mosques at Eupatoria, and Tartars in 
other parts of the Crimea, but we hardly expected to find 
so large a proportion of the population of one of the princi- 
pal towns in Central Russia composed of Mohammedans, of 
whom, perhaps, there are not less than twenty thousand in 
Kazan. There is a tower in Kazan which some assert is a 
relic of times when the Tartars held their own in this region. 
But Kazan has been " reduced to ashes," as the historians 
say, more than once, and there is so much that is Tartaresque 
in Russian buildings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 
that this may as well be a monument of the conqueror Ivan 
the Terrible as of any Tartar Tsar. There is " Our Lady of 
Kazan " — she is Russian every bit of her. She is " miracu- 
lous," and a church has been built on purpose to receive her. 
Her " miracle " consisted in escaping destruction when the 
building in which she was suspended was consumed by fire. 
Doubtless she was removed by some priest and placed in a 
miraculous position after the fire, or she may easily have been 
preserved by the accidents of the conflagration. It is proba- 
bly true that many " miracles " of this sort happened in the 
Pantechnicon to articles of furniture stored there before the 
fire. From a picture she was transformed into a revenue by 
the miracle. Catherine II. placed diamonds of enormous value 
above her head; and orthodox Russians, who bow down be- 
fore her, feel entitled to look with contempt upon their hea- 
then fellow-townsmen, the Tartar Mussulmans. 

" N^o sheets !" I hear the one English lady exclaim, as we 
are leaving the moorings at Kazan ; and it does strike one as 
odd and uncomfortable, to see nothing but a bare couch pro- 
vided for a five days' voyage — not a single article of bedding. 
Prostenia — ^. e., bed-linen — is perhaps the Russian word which 



OEIENTAL CLEANLINESS. 67 

English travelers pronounce with most energy. Muscovite 
civilization has not yet attained to sheets ; indeed, Russians 
are generally prepared to maintain that theirs is the better 
mode of sleeping. The Russians have in this, as in many 
other matters, the Oriental rather than the Occidental fash- 
ion. In Western Europe, it is the cleanly, wholesome custom 
to lay aside entirely the garments of the day. In Eastern 
Europe and in Asia, the opposite plan prevails ; and, for the 
most part, people sleep in some, if not all, the clothes in which 
they have tilled the land or walked the street. In the house 
of a Persian, a man's bed is anywhere upon the carpets in 
any one of the rooms. There are always pillows lying about, 
on which to rest the arm or back by day and the head by 
night. He takes his sleep by night as an Englishman does 
his nap after dinner, except that the Englishman is generally 
raised from the floor, and the Persian is not. Britains will 
humble themselves metaphorically to the dust, in asking a 
friend to "give them a bed." In Oriental lands, neither host 
nor guest would understand such a phrase ; for every trav- 
eler, whether he be visitor or voyager, carries all that he re- 
quires for sleeping, except shelter from inclement weather; 
and a man's hospitality is not limited, as with us, to the con- 
fines of his " spare bed," nor is there any of that sense of in- 
delicacy in sleeping in company with others which is the nat- 
ural consequence of the bedroom arrangements of Western 
Europe. 

When people make their bed anywhere, and are in the hab- 
it of carrying all that they deem requisite in this way from 
place to place, they dispense with articles which would require 
frequent washing. It is otherwise when the bed becomes a 
fixed institution, as in England ; and there can be no doubt 
that the more cleanly practice is that which brings as much 
as possible of the bedding most frequently to the wash-tub, 
and with regard to the person, that which suggests by most 



68 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAYA]S-. 

complete removal of garments of every-day life the most com- 
plete and thorough ablutions. 

It is quite a mistake to suppose that Oriental peoples are 
the most cleanly because they observe the washings directed 
by the Koran. These are certainly j^erformed, and not with- 
out good effect ; but this is done in the perfunctory manner 
in which religious obligations are generally undertaken, and 
it is done while wearing clothes which may not have been 
removed for weeks. The face is smeared with water before 
prayer and before eating, but there is no washing such as 
will remove the dust from eyes already menaced, as a conse- 
quence, with chronic ophthalmia ; and if it were not the cus- 
tom among Mohammedans to shave their heads, their matted 
hair would become a preserve for noxious vermin. 

The worst of the Russian is that he has carried some of 
these customs rather too far north. He does not shave his 
head, nor clean it. His food of oily fish, or the most greasy 
preparation of meat, the demand of a cold climate, is not so 
cleanly as the rice saturated with meat gravy and the fruit of 
the Oriental. At six months after date, the clothes of the 
Russian are not so tolerable as those of the Oriental of the 
South. The climate being so much colder, the Russian sleeps 
in a less pure atmosphere, and indeed the air of Russian bed- 
rooms, even of the higher class, is, in winter, often disgusting. 
Russians, whom English people meet in Italy during winter, 
are often heard to say that they have never experienced the 
miseries of cold until they came south of the Alps. On board 
the Alexander II., though there were yet more than three 
months remaining of the year, and though the weather was 
by no means what English people would call cold, the cabins 
were heated with hot- water pipes. Two Russian gentlemen 
complained of loss of appetite, from headache, and of sleepless- 
ness. They were astonished when we asked how they could 
expect any other result after lying for hours in a small cabin 



ORIENTALISM IN RUSSIA. 69 

with the door and window closed, and with their pillows all 
but resting upon a huge pipe filled with boiling water. To 
their surprise, they were cured next day by changing their 
pillows to the opposite ends of their beds, and by leaving two 
inches of their window open. The day on which we left Ka- 
zan was such as in England would have been called and en- 
joyed as "a mild autumn day;" but being in Russia, the cab- 
ins were warmed to a stewy heat, and we noticed through 
the day that our cabin was the only one of which the window 
was open. 

It would be possible to enumerate, almost* to weariness, 
the points in which Russians, -differing from the people of 
Western Europe, resemble those races whom we call Orient- 
als. Except Turkey, Russia is the only European country 
in which women smoke tobacco habitually. Turkish women 
are, as a rule, delicate, owing to their customary seclusion in 
houses (some do not pass the threshold for months, or even 
years), and to the substitution of narcotics and sweet-meats 
for wholesome and nutritious food. Russian women are 
often not less feeble, owing to similar habits, and to tlie un- 
natural, enervating temperature of their houses. "We have 
seen at Moscow and elsewhere how, after the manner of the 
mosque, Russians make the place of honor for interment in 
the corners of their churches. In the Cathedral of the As- 
sumption, the resting-place of the most revered dead, the 
tombs of SS. Theognostus, Peter, Philip, and Jonah, all Met- 
ropolitans of Moscow, are enshrined in the four angles of that 
wonderful church ; and there also are the remains of SS. Pho- 
tius and Cyprian, of Philaret and Hermogenes, Patriarchs of 
the Russo-Greek Church. Some confusion of manners and 
customs is perhaps inevitable in an empire which extends 
through thirty degrees of latitude, and includes Finns and 
Persians, Germans and Calmuck Tartars, v/ith people of many 
colors and creeds — the fair-haired girls of Hango and Hel- 



70 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN. 

singfors, and the ebonized descendants of Tartar slaves ; fol- 
lowers of Luther and worshipers of Buddha. 

As the setting sun and the flat horizon draw together in 
the reddening light of evening, representatives of millions of 
the Tsar's subjects mount the highest places in our vessel, 
and turn their prayerful eyes toward Mecca. But whether 
the view was clouded with pitiless rain, in our journey from 
Nijni to Kazan, or brilliant at Kazan and onward to As- 
trakhan, never did some of the Persian and Tartar traders 
omit, about the hours of sunrise and sunset, to stand w^ith un- 
covered feet and make their prayers and obeisance toward 
the East. How could man, we thought at the time, be more 
picturesque than one of these merchants of Russian Persia, 
to whose naturally great stature was added a conical fur hat, 
high as the bear-skin of an EngUsh Guardsman ! Pressing 
this high crown of curling black lamb-skin tightly on his brow 
against the wind, he stripped off his outer robe, lined with the 
yellow fur of the marmot, which he spread as a prayer-carpet 
upon the high deck. Observed, yet seeming utterly uncon- 
scious and unnoticed by all around, he laid aside his boots, 
and stepped in his stockings upon his coat of fur. Then, 
drawing his bright green tunic more tightly within his silver- 
mounted waist-belt, he placed both hands upon his loose trou- 
sers of black satin, and gazed in rapt attention upon the east- 
ern sky. Soon he fell upon his knees, and pressed his fore- 
head several times upon the deck. He rose, and with new 
motions, designed to clear his thoughts from things of earth, 
and to make him receptive of ideas of Allah the all-merciful, 
he continued and concluded his devotions. We know that 
there is hypocrisy among men of every creed, and in Moham- 
medanism, as in others, a frequent seeming unto men to pray ; 
we know how much higher and nobler in morality and jus- 
tice, as in every other valuable attribute, is true Christianity ; 
but tl;iere can equally be no doubt in our minds that the out- 



SHALLOAVNESS OF THE VOLGA. Vl 

ward aspect of this Mohammedan prayer is far nobler than 
the ceremonies of the Greek Church, than the religious exer- 
cises of Russians, with their farthing tapers, their bowings, 
their kissing of books and of tinseled pictures. 

No river of Europe so much resembles the Nile as the Vol- 
ga, and, especially in its southern course, the sandy likeness 
is very remarkable. For hundreds of miles the country uj^on 
the Volga is low and uninteresting. Like the Danube, and 
like the Nile also, the right bank is the more elevated; and, 
as upon the African river, the stream is occasionally crossed 
by sandy shallows, and the crew are summoned to sounding 
by the ringing of the captain's bell. Upon a river of such 
majestic breadth, one is at first amazed at the figures which 
are called out by the man who, from the head of the vessel, 
sounds the depth with a pole, colored alternately black and 
white, in lengths rather less than a foot; "eight," " six," and 
sometimes "five," he calls. It is demonstrated that the Al~ 
exander II., with excellent accommodation for thirty first- 
class, as many second-class, and any number of third-class 
passengers, to say nothing of cargo, draws no more than four 
feet of water. Her furnaces are fed with the fuel of the 
country, cleft logs of pine, each about two feet in length; 
and twice or three times in every day a fresh supply of wood 
is taken in, which is invariably carried on board from the 
shore by women. 

Half a day's journey after leaving Kazan, we arrive at the 
point where the bluish Volga receives the yellowish waters 
of the Kama, the highway into Siberia. We pass on toward 
Simbirsk, at which we touch in the hours of night. The 
lights of the town look down upon us from a height of five 
hundred feet, and the right bank of the river rises still high- 
er as we proceed the next day toward Samara. Just as upon 
the Rhine one is told to reserve admiration for the famous 
view of the Siebengebirge, and upon the less picturesque 



72 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAX. 

Danube for the scenery of the Iron Gates, so uj^on the Volga 
it is between Simbirsk and Samara that lovers of the beau- 
tiful are supposed to reach the acme of delight. The brief 
beauties of the Volga could be seen to no greater advantage 
than when we passed them in the last days of September; 
and the green firs set in the golden coloring of autumn-tinted 
birch leaves are very refreshing and attractive for the short 
distance in which there is any thing approaching the pictur- 
esque in the scenery upon the Volga. 

Near Samara, where the right bank, like the unvarying 
left, is once more flat, we observed the commencement of an 
important public work of a character most truly Russian — a 
work to whicii, I should hope, the poll-tax, rather than Brit- 
ish investors in Russian railways, w^ill contribute in every 
stone and girder. In this century, the undertaking will nev- 
er "pay," from the investor's point of view^ We saw the 
beginning of a viaduct across the Volga, a viaduct which will 
be the longest in the world, forming a connection by railway 
between St. Petersburg and Orenburg. The procureur -ge- 
neral of the latter town w^as standing beside us as we ap- 
proached the preparatory works. He and his townsmen re- 
joiced greatly at the proposed expenditure of a million ster- 
ling, apparently for the benefit of Orenburg, as it is not in 
contemplation to push the railway farther to the east. But 
they all understand very well that this is the high-road to 
Khiva, and that the Government, by constructing this via- 
duct and railway, will vastly increase the security of their 
hold upon Central Asia, and the facilities for extending con- 
quest in that direction. 

At Samara we have passed eight hundred and forty versts 
from Nijni. In all these towns of the Volga there is a large 
Mohammedan population ; but the most curious circumstance 
about Samara is in the mare's-milk cure, which is carried on 
in several of the best houses near the river-side, these estab- 



VOLSK. VS 

lishments being superintended by medical men, just as hydro- 
pathic cures are in England. At Samara, mares' milk is made 
into an effervescing and fermented drink by the admixture of 
an acid ; and the result, not very unlike one variety of cheap 
Champagne, in flavor as well as in appearance, is taken as a 
cure for diseases of the lungs and kidneys. At Volsk we are 
nearly seven hundred miles from Nijni. We landed at this 
" large, handsome town," as Murray's " Hand-book for Russia " 
calls it, upon a sand -heap littered with refuse of all kinds. 
There were several carriages waiting for hire ; but these were 
nothing better than dirty baskets, originally of great strength, 
containing a handful of dried roots and grass, of the roughest 
sort, for the " fare " to sit upon. One or two had a seat cov- 
ered with leather; but it needed the education of a life-time 
to keep one's self on this perch, when the vehicle moved over 
the deep and filthy ruts of the main streets. The streets of 
Volsk are straight and wide ; the houses are, with very rare 
exceptions, built like a log-hut, of fir poles, tenoned and mor- 
tised together, just in the same style as the houses in a Nor- 
wegian village. 

The Mayor of Volsk and his wife, who came on board as 
passengers to Saratof, were full to overflowing with happy an- 
ticipation of the gayeties of the latter town, where, they told 
us, an Italian opera company were giving a series of perform- 
ances, some of which they hoped to witness. I asked his wor- 
ship how the Tartars, of whom there are a great number in 
Volsk, agreed with the Russians. He said that difficulties 
constantly arose, and that recently Tartars had complained to 
him, alleging that Russians would not let them use the public 
wells. When we arrived at Saratof, we were almost inclined 
to laugh at the notion of Italian opera in such a place, where 
the rickety wooden sheds of the Tartar bazaar occupy the 
neighborhood of the Opera-house. Probably one-third of the 
ninety thousand inhabitants of Saratof are Mohammedans, and 

4 



T4 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

live ill kennels in the outskirts, or in their wooden shops. 
Some of these people, with a store in the bazaar, which is per- 
haps ten feet square, have a bundle of dried grass in a corner, 
which they cover with a carpet. This serves them for bed, 
and the place is at once home and shop. But the streets, like 
those of other Russian towns on the Volga, though their sur- 
face is the public sewer, and is without any attempt at paving, 
are generally straight and wide ; and a house which would be 
thought good in a second-rate German town stands side by 
side with a wooden hovel neither water-tight nor wind-proof. 

The Tartars in these towns have probably a hard time, 
and suffer much oppression. Their religion is tolerated ; and 
though they rarely have mosques in the shape of buildings 
designed and erected for the exercise of their religion, they 
have houses which, though with none of the outward appear- 
ances of a mosque, are set apart for their religious ceremo- 
nies. All this region, where they now take the lowest place, 
was once their own. They have schools, but only those at- 
tached to their mosques, and there nothing beyond the poor 
art of reading a few sentences from the Koran is taught. 
Many of them steal away into the Turkish Empire, in order 
to avoid the operation of the new military law, which has put 
thousands of these Mohammedans of Europe into the uniforms 
of the Russian army. 

On the Volga, about Saratof, in autumn, one sees boats 
loaded with melons, the fruit stacked high upon the decks, 
just as the old-fashioned sixty-pound cannon-balls were piled 
in former days at Woolwich. Third-class passengers rush on 
shore at every station, buy a melon as big as one's head for 
copecks of the value of threepence, a large loaf of brown-bread 
. for as much more, and there is provision for a man for a 
whole day. At Nijni we had seen a procession of prisoners 
on the way to Siberia ; at Saratof we saw a number of men, 
women, and children, in similar circumstances, on the way to 



PRISONERS FOR THE CAUCASUS. 75 

the Caucasus. They were marched on board a passenger 
steam-vessel, in build resembling the Alexander 7Z, between 
two files of soldiers, and secured in two large cages placed 
near the paddle-boxes. The front of each cage overlooking 
the water, and the sides, which faced the stern of the steam- 
boat, were barred with iron, so that every part of the interior 
could be seen, just as in the lion-houses of the Zoological Gar- 
dens, with this difference, that in the case of these prisoners 
there was no overhanging roof to prevent rain or sunshine 
from pouring in upon their wretchedness. At the back of 
each cage there was a lair common to all, without distinction 
of sex or age. When all were secured, including the guiltless 
wives and children, fights occurred for places least exposed to 
the cold wind. The Tartar prisoners were alone. No wives 
had elected to go with their Tartar husbands into the snoAvs 
of the Caucasus. The greater criminals wore heavy chains, 
linked to their ankles and wrists, the loud clanking of which, 
as they walked to and fro in the cage, seemed to be enjoyed 
as a sort of distinction in the miserable crowd. There were 
three soldiers in undress uniform, one of them wearing chains 
of this sort. But the saddest sight was the exposure of the 
innocent children in a criminal cage, and the inevitable injury 
to them of being thus associated with criminals, and exhibited 
for days to the population of the Volga, in a company where 
there could be no doubt that he appeared the greatest hero 
whose chains clanked heaviest. 

Saratof is the largest town upon the Volga, and its site 
is so hilly that from one point of view nearly the whole of 
its buildings may be seen. It has an immense trade in fish 
and agricultural productions. The description of Saratof as 
" handsome," in Murray's " Hand-book," is ridiculous and mis- 
leading. It has a few official buildings which would pass 
muster in a second-rate German town, and it has the jDrime 
element in the formation of a handsome town — that of lib- 



76 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAX. 

eral space ia the plan of its roads and streets. Compared 
with a purely Tartar village, it may seem handsome ; but Sa- 
ratof is, to a great extent, itself Tartar. So is Tsaritzin, the 
next railway station upon the Volga. Tsaritzin is usually the 
place of debarkation for travelers from Persia and the Cas- 
pian who are bound for Western Europe. With the next 
place, at which the Alexander II. stops, we are disappointed. 
We had hoped to find the little town of Sarepta upon the wa- 
ter-side. It is known throughout Russia as an exclusive col- 
ony of the German " Herrnhiiter " — the Moravian Brethren, 
and spoken of as a model of social welfare and successful 
industry. Instead of the town, there was only a wooden stall 
in sight. This was painted green, and stood at some little 
distance from the landing-place on the sandy bank of the 
river. The captain declared he did not intend to wait more 
than two or three minutes, but it was clear that, whatever 
happened, half a hundred at least of the passengers were re- 
solved to reach that wooden stall. Behind the little counter, 
which was spread with gingerbread cakes and neatly fastened 
packets bearing the word " Sarepta " in large letters, stood a 
tall, solemn-looking German, who, if he had been born with 
ten arms in place of two, could not have delivered ginger- 
bread fast enough to satisfy the eager and hurried passen- 
gers. Seeing that the cakes looked good, several people 
bought the- mysterious packets, of whom one at least was ig- 
norant, as we were, that these contained not cakes, but condi- 
ment — the mustard of Sarepta, for the manufacture of which 
the German colony is famous. The Sarepta community have 
a shop in St. Petersburg for the sale of their mustard and 
gingerbread. 

The Vol2:a widens to a noble stream. Gaziu2: on its broad 
and resplendent surface at any point between Kazan and As- 
trakhan, one would hardly suspect its real weakness — its 
shallowness. At Chorney Yar, we were more than sixteen 



A PEASANT MAYOE. 77 

hundred miles from Twer, and yet our four- feet -deep ship 
grated on the sandy bottom of the shallows at that point. 
To be sure, we were there in the time of year when the wa- 
ters of the Volga are at their lowest ; in May the river has 
twice the breadth to which it dwindles in September, and 
there is then more movement and life upon the stream. We 
passed hours without seeing a vessel of any description. At 
Chorney Yar the mayor and his deputy ushered the govern- 
or of the province of Astrakhan to a cabin in the Alexan- 
der II. They, in their official costumes, afforded an interest- 
ing exhibition of the personnel of Russian local government. 
The mayor, evidently a peasant, w^ore a gilt-laced coat, very 
like a Windsor uniform, and over his shoulders a massive 
chain — of brass, I should think — which at odd moments, 
when his worship fancied himself unobserved, he adjusted to 
a nice diagonal upon his wide chest. He looked as comforta- 
ble, in his gorgeous apparel, as the Shah did in his diamond- 
breasted coat when seated upon a high chair at some of the 
London entertainments. 

We glide on over the stream, running between low sandy 
banks across the steppe of Astrakhan. The water of the 
Volga pales from the appearance of burnished gold to that 
of molten silver, as the lovely tints of the Southern sunset 
gave place to the cool twilight. What a picture those four 
Calmuck fishermen, with their immense circular caps of white 
fur, their swarthy faces, with the clearly marked Mongol feat- 
ures, their pink, blue, and white garments would make ! Their 
rudely constructed boat, with a bow rising from the w^ater and 
sharpened to the shape of a pike's mouth, is grotesquely paint- 
ed. On the high, square stern is a cartoon representing a yel- 
low lion, with face averted from the object of pursuit, chasing 
a lady in short costume among a.grove of trees. The evening 
sun bathes them in splendor ; their squalor looks like glory ; 
a pelican, whose natural color is a dirty white, flaps its yard- 



"78 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

long wings, and projects its pouched bill over tlie water be- 
fore them — a gilded bird; even the misery of their reed- 
roofed hut, with walls of crumbling sandy mud, is metamor- 
phosed into beauty ; and far in the distance, across the unva- 
rying level, the sunlight marks the green cupolas of the Ortho- 
dox Cathedral of Astrakhan — a town mainly Mongol, partly 
Russian, where the Volga at last j^ours its waters through 
many and long mouths into the Caspian. 

Within a week we have passed in the same boat from one 
of the best bear-hunting grounds in all Russia, a forest of fir 
near Kazan, to this strange town, to wiiich Russian gentlemen 
come for the Indian sport of " pig-sticking," w^hich is much 
practiced in the neighborhood of Astrakhan — a town in which 
the scanty mixture of Russian houses with the mud-built huts 
of Calmuck Tartars proclaims the remotest borders of Euro- 
pean civilization. There is nothing very strange to see in 
Astrakhan, except the houses of the Tartars and the curious 
worship in their pagodas. Perhaps the best thing in the 
place is the caviare, for which Astrakhan is famous. This 
delicacy is, how^ever, being obtained at cruel and ruinous cost 
to the sturgeon -fisheries of the Volga. Russians say that 
caviare is nowhere so good as in Astrakhan, and certainly the 
damp turnip-seed, or that which looks like turnip or rape seed, 
sold in London as caviare, has very little resemblance to the 
greenish, fresh dainty which one obtains, though not very 
cheaply, in Astrakhan. Each particle of the caviare of As- 
trakhan is three times as large, apparently from mere fresh- 
ness, as that sold in London ; the color is different and the 
flavor as unlike as that which distinguishes fresh grapes 
from raisins. 

Moored at Astrakhan after six days' journey on the riv- 
er, we can not but reflect how vastly greater w^ould be the 
Russian power if the Volga had the uniform depth of the 
Thames; if, instead of flowing through two thousand five 



RAISING TIIE LEVEL OF THE CASPIAN. 79 

hundred miles of the poorest land in Europe, it watered 
such soils as those of Berks and Bucks ; and if, in place of 
emptying itself into a closed and shallow sea, it w^ere a high- 
way for the commerce of the world. Even here at the quays 
of Astrakhan, the steamboat, drawing only eight feet of 
water, which is to carry us down the whole length of the 
Caspian, can not approach ; we must be tugged in a flat-bot- 
tomed barge for sixty miles or more through the delta of the 
Volga to where the vessel lies anchored in the sea, and when 
Ave have boarded her we shall pass yet another sixty miles 
over the Caspian before we shall get into five fathoms of 
water. Six months after we had quitted this region, we read 
in The Times the scheme of an American engineer who pro- 
posed to raise in forty years the surface of the Caspian five- 
and-twenty feet, to a level with the waters of the Black Sea, 
by cutting a small channel, which in that long period would 
be scooped by the effluent water to the size of a ship-canal. 
Our recollection of various heights of the shores of the Cas- 
pian is not, in an engineering sense, precise, but we would 
suggest to this "American engineer" the practical considera- 
tion whether his plan, if carried out, would not submerge 
Astrakhan and a large part of Southern Russia. It would 
certainly obliterate the Russian station of Ashurade, so im- 
portant for the maintenance of Russian influence in Persia, 
and it would conceal forever the Persian landing-places on 
the Caspian, together with the town of Resht, and much of 
the most productive land in the dominions of the Shah. 



80 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Louis XIV. and the Tsar. — Eussian Church and State. — Empress Anne's 
Buffoon. — Prayers for the Tsar. — The Eussian Press.- — Censorship. — 
Press Eegulations. — The Moscow Gazette. — Difficulties of Journalists. 
— The Wjedomosti. — The RussJci Mir, — Eussia not Eussian. — Foreign 
Eaces. — New Military System. — The Emancipation of the Serfs. — The 
Communal System. — Bad Farming. — Ignorance of the Peasantry. — The 
Corn Trade. — Complaints from Odessa. — Eesurrection of Sebastopol. — 
Corn from Eussia and the United States. — The Artel of Odessa. — De- 
mands of Odessa Merchants. — A Viceroy wanted. — English Interests in 
Eussian Corn. — The Soil of Eussia. — The Conquests of Eussia. — Contrast 
with Persia. — Borrowed Money. — Unprofitable Eaihvays. — Eevenne of 
Eussia. — Produce of Poll-tax. — Privileged Citizens. 

In the great library of St. Petersburg there is preserved 
a writmg exercise — a calligraphic study— done in the days 
of his childhood by Louis XIY. of France. Six times, at 
least, the little hand of the future sovereign was instructed 
to pen the following sentiment: ^^I^horamage est deue aux 
roys ; Us font ce qiHl leurs plaiV — ("Homage is due to 
kings ; they do as they please "). We shall be more kind 
to the memory of monarchs when we remember how they 
have been trained by sycoj)hants. Nowhere is the royal of- 
fice exalted higher than in Russia, where every human creat- 
ure holds life and liberty at the good pleasure of the Tsar. 
Except the Sultan, the Tsar has no peer in Europe ; and ifc 
is no wonder if the solemn loneliness of his elevation impairs 
the nervous system and menaces the sanity of members even 
of the stalwart race of Romanoff. 

Sprung from the Church of Russia, the Tsars are never 
dissociated from it. They are divine as well as imperial; 



PRAYERS FOR THE TSAR. 81 

the Tsar is priest as well as king; he is a miracle -worker 
upon the Neva; he administers the sacramental bread and 
wine with his own hands at his coronation; in short, like 
the Shah and the Sultan in their respective dominions, the 
Tsar is, in the theory of Russian Government — which stands 
for the present in place of a constitution — "the Shadow of 
God." Members of other imperial houses may change their 
creed to win, or even to share, a throne; but it is not so 
with a Romanoff. In Russia, an empire by no means homo- 
geneous in population, this thorough and personal association 
of Church and State is the centre of the centripetal force 
which is grinding foreign races into Russians. 

The grand ambition of the Emperor Nicholas, and the 
high moral character and qualities of his successor, have in 
our time cleared the Russian court, and the exercise of its 
autocratic powers, from the vagaries of a period when there 
was no responsibility to a dumb people, or even to the more 
enlightened opinion of Western Europe. The days in which, 
according to respected authorities, the Empress Anne mar- 
ried one of her buffoons, himself a prince of the Empire, to 
a Calmuck dwarf, and made them pass the first night after 
their wedding uj^on an ice couch in an ice house upon the 
Neva, are gone forever. So, too, is the issue of such ukases 
as that by which Peter the Great sought to subdue heresy 
and the obstinacy of hairy sectaries by a decree prohibiting 
the wearing of beards, when every one who dared to present 
himself at the "Redeemer Gate" of the Moscow Kremlin 
with a beard upon his chin was caught and fined ; or that 
by which the Emperor Paul, in 1799, with the same object, 
forbade the use of shoe-strings and the wearing of roimd 
hats. All this is gone, but the personal power of the Tsar 
continues. In all Russian churches the most earnest prayer 
— that without which no service is comi^lete — that during 
which heads are most bowed and crossings are most fre- 

4* 



82 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

quent, is the prayer in which the welfare of the Tsar and of 
his house is implored. It has been said that a venturesome 
diplomatist once asked the Emperor Nicholas who was the 
most distinguished of his majesty's subjects? And, accord- 
ing to report, the Tsar replied that the most distinguished 
Russian was he whomsoever the Emperor honored by speak- 
ing to him. Even Alexander II., the mildest and most mod- 
ern of his line, could declare, "Xa Russie c'est le Tsar^'' more 
truly than the young copyist with whose name I commenced 
this chapter could say, in after-days, of himself and France, 
''L'Etat c'est MoV 

The Russian Press is a sham, inasmuch as its existence 
leads the outside world to suppose that there is within the 
Empire a widely based expression of public opinion. I am 
not now alluding to the censorship which forbids the utter- 
ance of progressive sentiments, or the full expression of hope 
for a constitutional regime, but to the initial fact in the just 
comprehension of this important matter, that the productions 
of the Russian Press are not open to more than one in a hun- 
dred of the Tsar's subjects, because of their ignorance of tlie 
meaning of letters. Every reader of a newspaper in Russia, 
of the most loyal, and even servile, of the issues from the 
Press, is, we may say, a marked man, because as a rule jour- 
nals can only be obtained by subscription through the post- 
office. Many visitors from our own country must have 
learned by irritating experience the truth of this statement, 
when they have found their English newspapers sequestrated, 
day after day, because they were not subscribed for in this 
manner. In 1870, including printing of every sort and kind, 
there was but one printing-press in Russia for every sixteen 
thousand of the population. 

The life of a journalist in Russia must be, to say the least, 
uneasy, if we may presume that he has any opinions of his 
own. There are two newspapers published in St. Petersburg 



CENSOESHIP. 83 

which are not designed for the Russian people — the JTournal 
de St. Petershourg, printed in French, and the St. JPetershurg- 
er Zeitiing, printed in German ; the latter being the organ of 
the German-speaking people of Russia, as the former is of the 
Russian Foreign Office. These journals are, of course, valu- 
able rather for information relating to external than to inter- 
nal affairs. 

A writer long resident in Russia, one who has already 
attracted the unfavorable notice of the Tsar's Government 
for his too accurate and well-informed acquaintance with im- 
perial arrangements, has lately described Russian newspapers, 
and the regime to which they are subject. He says of the 
censorship that " it appertains to the department of the Min- 
ister of the Interior, and is carried out either by special com- 
mittees, as at St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw, and Odessa, 
or by individual censors in such towns as Kief, Kazan, Riga, 
Dorpat, Mittau, Revel, and Wilna, who have to report their 
decisions for confirmation to the Chief Board of Censors at 
St. Petersburg. The committees are composed of a presi- 
dent, and three senior and six junior censors, with an inspect- 
or of printing-offices and book depots, and his assistants. The 
president and three chief censors meet at least once a week, 
when the various manuscripts and journals are registered, 
and either licensed or prohibited. All writings which are 
directed, first, against the dogmas of the National Church ; 
secondly, against the form of government existing in Rus- 
sia, and especially against the person of the Emperor, or any 
member of the imperial family; thirdly, against morality; 
and, fourthly, those containing offensive attacks on any private 
person, or calumnies of any kind, are prohibited by the cen- 
sorship. N^o communication respecting the imperial family 
may be printed until permission has been obtained from the 
Minister of the Imperial Court. Not only writings, but pict- 
ures and music, are subject to the censorship; and care is 



84 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAX. 

taken to prohibit the latter when any thing resembling the 
airs of the Polish insurgents is discovered to have been intro- 
duced. It is left to the discretion of the editors whether 
they will place themselves under the preliminary preventive 
censorship or not. In the latter case, they are subject to the 
control of the Press Director — an official also belonging to 
the Ministry of the Interior. Under this regime, articles are 
not subject to official examination and revision before they 
make their appearance in the columns of the paper; although 
in cases where the Government has had an inkling of some 
more than usually dangerous effusion, the whole issue has 
been seized as it left the printing-machine. The usual meth- 
od of proceeding — which in its main features appears to have 
been borrowed from the Press Laws of the second French 
Empire — is, for the head authority of the particular branch 
of the public service that considers itself unwarrantably as- 
sailed to lay a complaint before the Press Director, should he 
indeed not have already taken the initiative. In either case, 
he gravely cautions the offendiug printer to be more careful 
for the future. A rejDetition of the offense is followed by a 
repetition of the Avarning; but should three such remon- 
strances prove ineffectual, the offending periodical is sus- 
pended for a period not exceeding three months. If, on its 
re-appearance, it obstinately persists in its former course, it 
receives three further warnings, and is finally suppressed. A 
preliminary caution, too, is sometimes sent round to the dif- 
ferent editors, forbidding them to mention a certain subject 
at all, or enjoining them to take only a particular view of 
it. This was especially the case with regard to the Khiva 
expedition. For accidentally disregarding a similar injunc- 
tion, the Moscoio Gazette {Ifoscaner Zeitung) — the organ of 
the German element in Central Russia, and most ably con- 
ducted by M. Katkof — recently underwent a temporary sus- 
pension." 



DIFFICULTIES OF JOURNALISTS. 85 

This system is not calculated to give a fresh, progressive, 
vigorous, and independent tone to the Press of Russia. The 
Press Director is, under this regime, virtually the editor of 
the whole Press. The writer above quoted says : " The larger 
St. Petersburg and Moscow papers are almost all under his 
control." If an Enolish statesman were in friendly talk on 
this subject with such men as Prince Gortschakoff or the 
Grand Duke Constantine, men of liberal mind and large ac- 
quaintance with the forces that mold and govern the actions 
of mankind, I am sure he would be told that the Russian 
Press is not injuriously controlled ; that the Government of 
the Tsar would not only sanction, but that it desired, that re- 
forms and even radical changes in the mode of government 
should be discussed and examined. But how? It can not 
be doubted that a journalist desiring, say the spread of edu- 
cation, and convinced that it will never come until representa- 
tive institutions are established, which shall in some measure 
control and determine the action of Government, may express 
an opinion " that if it should seem good to his Imperial Maj- 
esty, our august Imperator, in the progress of the century, 
and when to the wisdom of his Government it shall appear 
that the Russian people are fitted to bear the burden of so 
great responsibility, then, if it please the Tsar to establish rep- 
resentative institutions, these will further the work of civiliza- 
tion." But he dare not say that such institutions are good, 
and ought to be established, without showing that he regards 
the existing order of government as the very best that human 
hands, assisted by celestial influences, could construct, and 
that he desires nothing except through the bounty of the Tsar 
and his majesty's Government. 

Occasionally the Russian papers exhibit their differences 
from each other in a leaning to Germany or to France, either 
tendency not being sufficiently strong or external in its aims, 
or offensive to the Government, to bring down upon them the 



86 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. 

interference of the Press Director. A Russian journal which 
desires a successful, untroubled existence must turn its eyes 
from the acts of Government, bestowing now and then indis- 
criminate praise without scrutiny. 

The writer to whom I am already indebted gives a fine ex- 
ample with reference to the Wjedomosti, a paper founded by 
Peter the Great, and which used to represent the Russian 
Liberal party. A few months ago " its editor, M. Korsch, who 
by his sympathy in the cause of reform has helped to raise it 
in public opinion, was summoned before the Minister of the 
Interior and told that the paper was of such radical tenden- 
cies that he must resign the control of it. The editor sought 
to mollify the ministerial anger by offering to make certain 
changes in his staff, but without effect; and as in Russia, in 
matters connected with the Press, a ministerial has all the force 
of an imperial ukase, nothing remained but to quietly obey, 
when the paper was placed under the immediate supervision 
of the Ministry of Public Instruction, and supplied with an 
entirely new staff, appointed on the express condition of pub- 
lishing as leading articles all communications which the Min- 
istry may think proper to forward, and of defending the Min- 
istry itself on all occasions through thick and thin." One is 
not surprised to learn that even in Russia, under these cir- 
cumstances, " influence and circulation alike have been dwin- 
dling away." Only those who have nothing to lose can afford 
to attack the Government in Russia. M. Korsch, the de- 
nounced editor of the Wjedomosti, " endeavored to buy the 
jRussJci Mir, or liussian World [the organ of General Tcher- 
nayeff], at that time under suspension. It seems that its pro- 
prietor, finding he was losing money, hit upon the expedient 
of attacking the War-ofiice, both with regard to the admin- 
istration of Turkistan and the Kirghiz rebellions of a few 
years ago, until he succeeded in getting his paper suspended, 
hoping that things would take a turn for the better in three 



RUSSIA NOT RUSSIAN. 87 

months, when he proposed to start afresh with all the prestige 
pertaining to a martyr — always a certain advantage under a 
despotic form of government." 

There can be no question that the neglect of social improve- 
ment and reform, when the work is much less conspicuous 
than the emancipation of the serfs (which no power but that 
of the Tsar could decree, as it affected the nobles in their 
property), is in no small degree due to the misdirected train- 
ing of Russian statesmen. In the absence of representative 
institutions and of a free Press, politicians find in the line of 
diplomacy and the field of foreign affairs the only road by 
which it is possible to arrive at a great reputation. The eyes 
and thoughts of Russian statesmen are in consequence averted 
from their country, and their ears are closed to appeals in the 
language of Russia. There is no free and widely studied de- 
bate in which they can hope to win influence by making a 
great name throughout the Empire; the only path to distinc- 
tion is by successful manipulation of Russian influence upon 
external politics, by wielding the pen which is weighted, at 
the advice of the writer, with the armed forces of Russia, or 
the sword which leads those forces to battle and conquest. 

And it must be acknowledged that the work of leading 
Russia from a system of government which has resemblance 
in system more to that of the Sultan than to any other Gov- 
ernment of Europe, is beset with many and great difficulties. 
Russia is not yet Russian. All the pressure of the superin- 
cumbent machinery of Government, exercised in the name of 
God as well as of the Tsar, has not as yet resulted in a fusion 
of the diverse populations of the Empire. To Germany, and 
to her war with France, from which he wisely held aloof, the 
Tsar is indebted for the establishment of a military system 
which, in spite of its obvious faults in diverting productive 
labor and diminishing the wealth of Russia, is, in fact, the 
most powerful agency which, perhaps, in the circumstances of 



88 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

that Empire, could have been devised by the Tsar, not only for 
the amalgamation of his heterogeneous subjects, but also for 
securing progress in general education. In Russia in Europe 
there are Mohammedans speaking dialects of Turkish and 
Arabic ; Poles clinging to their national language ; and Ger- 
man-speaking people of whom probably one million are actual- 
ly natives of Vaterkmd and aliens in Russia. In the towns, 
the Mohammedan, the Pole, and the German keep, as far as 
Ijossible, aloof from each other and from the Russian. They 
do not intermix or intermarry. The poor of Warsaw do not 
understand the Russian language. The German colonies upon 
the Volga are distinguished not only for the general superi- 
ority of their houses, but throughout their life for a higher 
standard of comfort than is common in the Russian towns — a 
result of their superior education. And in the densely pop- 
ulated Mohammedan quarters of towns such as Kazan and 
Saratof, there are multitudes of people preserving their relig- 
ion, their customs, and their race unmixed, though they are 
regarded, like the Jews of Odessa, with dislike and contempt 
by their Muscovite masters, who do not forget or forgive the 
barbarities practiced by the forefathers of these Tartars upon 
the persons and the buildings of their own ancestors. There 
is no pretense or affection or sympathy between the German- 
speaking people and the genuine Russians. This is perhaps 
most conspicuous in the Baltic provinces, where in line with 
the treatment of native Germans there is always a train laid 
which may be exploded at any moment into a casus belli by 
the chancellor of either Empire. Germans in the North and 
Jews in the South are hated, not only because their presence 
is inharmonious with Panslavonian ideas, but rather for their 
superior success in trade and commerce. The poor Moham- 
medans have no such guilt, but it is traditional policy with 
the faithful of the Eastern Church to trample upon Islam. 
The new military system of Russia, which excepts neither 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SERFS. 89 

creed nor race, which carries the youth of all, German, Polish, 
Mohammedan, as well as Russian, far away from home, to 
make all alike soldiers of the Tsar, is the severe but effectual 
school in which these distinctions are beinoj most effaced. 
One can see this in the streets, in the comradeship of oblique- 
eyed Tartars with bright Armenians from the Caucasus, of 
golden-haired boys from Finland with native Russians from 
the South, all sjDeaking, or trying to speak, the language in 
which they are drilled, and by the knowledge of which they 
can alone hope to win higher pay and improved position. In 
every branch of the military service there are some education- 
al facilities and even requirements. To these the troops are 
led by self-interest, and in some cases by stern punishments. 
Every impulse in the direction of personal advantage suggests 
to them to make the Russian language their own, and to di- 
rect their spiritual ideas toward that truest index of national 
loyalty — the Russian Church. The Russian military system 
is probably accomplishing as great a social reformation as 
that which was achieved by the abolition of serfdom. 

That grand measure, the main glory of the present reign, 
has not yet effected all the improvement of the Russian peas- 
ant and his tillage which the most sanguine of its advocates 
expected would immediately follow the operation of the great 
ukase of 1861, and the belligerent power of Russia is reduced 
because of the unimproving condition of agriculture. Pri- 
marily, this is due to the general ignorance and poverty of 
the peasantry ; and, secondarily, to the land system and the 
onerous taxation of Russia. It was very absurd to expect 
that twenty-two millions of people would, at a stroke of the 
Tsar's pen, advance by a leap from the display of the charac- 
teristics of slavery to the exhibition of the virtues of people 
who have for ages sustained the ennobling cares and the re- 
sponsibilities of personal freedom. It may be said, without 
fear of contradiction, that the Russian peasantry will never be 



90 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN. 

as the rural population of Germany or Switzerland, or even 
of less educated France, until they too are instructed, and un- 
til they, like those, are accustomed, to the exercise of a sub- 
stantial and duly responsible share in the Government of the 
country. In many villages or communes of Russia, the peas- 
ant is disposed to say that the Emperor's benign policy has 
done him no good, inasmuch as it has resulted in giving him 
a harder master in the commune than he had in the proprie- 
tor. The advances which the Government has made to the 
peasantry for the enfranchisement of their lands, as well as 
the revenue resulting from taxation, are secured by making 
each commune equally with each individual responsible for 
payment. In 1 872, the State had advanced no less than eighty 
million pounds in respect of sixty-six million acres; and if 
the peasant fails to pay to the commune his due share of the 
interest and sinking fund upon the aggregate sum which 
stands against the name of the village and its local govern- 
ment in the books of the Empire, he is of course not unlikely 
to meet with severity from his fellows, who must make good 
any deficiency on the part of lazy or dissolute defaulters. 

Perhaps at this point we may usefully make a brief, and 
therefore necessarily imperfect, reference to the Russian land 
system, merely in order to exhibit the blighting effect of the 
communal system upon agriculture. In the primitive state, 
the Russian people used land, and, when that was exhausted, 
went farther afield for more. By degrees, in fertile places, 
when there was no more land to be had, this method began 
to assume the aspect of private property by right of posses- 
sion. But the community increased, the land did not; the 
fulfillment of the obligations of individuals to the State and to 
proprietors was demanded, and could not be met, according 
to Russian ways of agriculture, unless every man had land 
from which to earn his contribution to the general liability. 
So it came about that the system of periodical redistribution 



IGNORANCE OF THE PEASANTRY. 91 

of the cultivated land by each commune was established, and 
under this system the Russian peasant has no security of ten- 
ure, no certainty as to his payment to the commune, and 
through the commune to the State, for these things are de- 
termined by the circumstances of his neighbors. Mr. D. M. 
Wallace, who has lived in Russia, says : " The allotment of 
the land is by far the most important event in Russian peas- 
ant life, and the arrangement can not be made without end- 
less talking and discussion. After the number of shares for 
each family has been decided, the distribution of the lots 
gives rise to new difficulties. The families who have plenti- 
fully manured their land strive to get back their old lots, and 
the commune respects their claims so far as these are consist- 
ent with the new arrangement ; but it often happens that it 
is impossible to conciliate private and communal interests, 
and in such cases the former are sacrificed in a way that 
would not be tolerated by men of Anglo-Saxon race." 

This will account in a great measure for the inefficiency of 
Russian agriculture where the communal system prevails ; but 
that is not universal, and greater intelligence would bring 
about a reform in the method of Russian agriculture, which 
is much needed. A three- course system of farming — one 
field of rye or wheat, one field of spring-corn (oats, etc.), and 
one field fallow — obtains over nearly the whole of European 
Russia. 

This inferior condition of the Russian people affects not 
only their agriculture, but also their foreign trade. Odessa is 
perplexed because the corn trade from that port is dwindling; 
and we are told, upon official authority, that " a peculiarity of 
the bills in circulation in South Russia is, that ten per cent, 
of them are given or indorsed by persons who can not sign 
their own names, but get it done by proxy at a notary's ; and 
from twenty to thirty per cent, more are omitted, and in- 
dorsed by parties who can only just sign their names, and are 



92 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

not able to write any thing in addition." The Odessa Com- 
mittee on Trade and Manufactures have reported to the Coun- 
cil for Trade and Manufactures in St. Petersburg that the 
commerce of their town, by far the most important in South 
Kussia, "is not only undergoing a temporary crisis, but is 
actually entering a period of absolute decline." The "' tem- 
porary crisis " is due to the failure of the two last harvests ; 
and Vice-consul Webster reports from Kherson that " nearly 
every body in South Russia will be bankrupt " if the harvest 
of this year be not sufficient. " The commercial banks," he 
writes, " whose principal occupation now is renewing or pro- 
longing old bills, have been assisted by the State bank, and 
will be able to make way till the probable result of the har- 
vest of 1876 is known. Should the harvest fail, a financial 
crash is inevitable." The Odessa Committee find that Niko- 
laief and Sebastopol, having become places of export, are 
drawing away their trade, and that much of the produce in 
the fertile district of Kief, which was formerly brought for 
shipment to Odessa, is now conveyed by railway to the ports 
of the Baltic, the freight from Kouigsberg to England being- 
less than half that to Odessa, or in the proportion of three to 
seven. 

" But it is not in the opening of these new outlets for Rus- 
sian grain that the committee see the danger to Odessa." 
"The competition of Nikolaief, Sebastopol, or even Konigs- 
berg, could not prevent Odessa continuing to be the natural 
outlet for a tract of country quite sufficient for a large remu- 
nerative trade." The danger is one which threatens, not 
Odessa only, but all Russia ; and it comes from the valley of 
the Mississippi — from the United States of America. Of the 
nine million to fourteen million quarters of foreign wheat re- 
quired by England, the proportions supplied by Russia and 
the United States have been as follows during the last seven 
years : 



THE AETEL OF ODESSA. 93 

Eussia. United States. 

Per Cent. Per Cent. 

1867 U 14 

1868 32 18 

1869 32 18 

1870 38 21 

1871 40 23 

1872 51 24 

1873 21 44 

The committee say they have no positive information for 
1874, but they have reason to believe the result is less favor- 
able to Russia than that of 1873. The figures given above 
show that in seven years Russia and the United States have, 
in this very important matter, changed positions. In 1867 
Russia supplied 44 per cent, and the United States 14 per 
cent, of England's demand for foreign wheat; in 1873 the 
United States supplied 44 per cent, and Russia only 21 per 
cent. The Odessa Committee have no illusions ; they in- 
dulge no hope that even a most prosperous harvest in Rus- 
sia will turn the scale ; but rather believe that the United 
States will take a still higher position among the grain-pro- 
ducers of the world. Congress has granted 2,000,000 dollars 
for deepening the mouths of the Mississippi, and on the com- 
pletion of these works the cost of the transport of wheat from 
Chicago to England will be diminished by more than 50 per 
cent. The Odessa Committee see in a near future the United 
States " so absolutely the controller of the prices of the Lon- 
don market that we shall be utterly unable to compete with 
her." And in this race it must be admitted that they, in 
common with all Russian enterprise, are heavily weighted by 
the official system of the Empire. The Artel (Association of 
Workmen) has a monopoly of Custom-house work; and the 
committee find that the cost of the necessary Custom-house 
formalities is, on the average, seven times, and for some 
classes of goods, eleven times, more than before this associa- 



94 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

tion was formed. It is estimated that the annual sum paid 
to the Artel of Odessa amounts to 400,000 rubles, " and this 
for no service rendered, as the Artel in no way dispenses 
with the necessity of employing the workmen who were em- 
ployed before the institution of the Artel." The commit- 
tee further complain that the inspection of goods commences 
at eleven and closes at two, which they think a somewhat 
absurd indulgence of Russian bureaucracy. That powerful 
caste — for the official class has a tendency to become such — 
is, of course, directly interested in maintaining the trouble- 
some system by which " the declarations required for the 
formalities of clearing goods pass through twenty -nine dif- 
ferent hands." 

But impartial critics must admit that, while stating noth- 
ing untrue, the Odessa merchants have not been careful to 
rc4ieve their picture, and that they employ the very dark col- 
oring of their foreground to show up the remedial measures 
which, with the natural dependence of people living under a 
despotic and protective system, they hope for from the Tsar. 
Such tactics are natural. When Marshal MacMahon was 
Governor -general of Algeria, a disastrous earthquake occur- 
red, by which hundreds of houses were destroyed, and many 
people impoverished. I shall never forget the scene, nor the 
spectacle of the emigrants crowding round his excellency, and 
declaring that if the emperor did not rebuild their houses, 
they would return to France. In like manner these enfants 
d''etat of Russia want the Tsar to make Odessa a manufact- 
uring centre, in spite of the facts that it is bounded on one 
side by the Euxine, that fuel is scarce, and that water must 
be paid for. Very characteristic of the evils of Russian 
Government is their proposal to exempt manufactures from 
all taxation, and their belief that the appointment of a viceroy 
instead of a governor -general "would be the best guaranty 
for the effectual carrying-out of the measures they have sug- 



RUSSIAN COEN. 95 

gested." They want the State to help them to wash wool, 
and to make depots for colonial goods, regardless of the fact 
that the proprietor of the only wool-washing establishment in 
Odessa lately hanged himself, a suicide which was followed 
by that of the principal importer of colonial goods. 

But perhaps England has most direct interest in the state- 
ments which have reference to the export of wheat. From a 
thoughtless glance at the figures, held up by the Odessa mer- 
chants, it might be supposed that our supply from Russia 
had in seven years fallen off by more than one-half, from 44 
per cent, in 1867, to 21 per cent, in 1873. But this is not so. 
To say nothing of the increase from Sebastopol and Konigs- 
berg, the export of cereals from Odessa in 1867 amounted to 
2,674,978 quarters, and to 2,648,000 quarters in 1873; while 
the value of the export in the latter year was greater by 
15,200,169 rubles than in 1867. In 1874 there was an in- 
crease in quantity as well as value ; and while we learn from 
these facts that the Russian supply is not declining, we can 
not escape the conviction forced upon us by the table of fig- 
ures given above, that Russian agriculture is stationary in 
comparison with the boundless and successful activity of the 
United States. 

In all this there is much that may be amended with ad- 
vantage; but Russia is not a fertile country. We hear of 
it as a great corn-exporting land, and are apt to compare it, 
as a whole, in fertility with such rich soils as those of the 
Danubian provinces, or the alluvial valleys of British India 
and of the United States. In this important matter it is 
hardly possible to make a greater error. The present writer 
has visited Russia twice, in north and south, has j^assed lei- 
surely through the length and, to a great extent, the breadth 
of the European Empire, and has also seen something of the 
Asiatic dominions of Russia. In these travels no fact is 
more constantly impressed upon the mind than the unequaled 



96 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

poverty of its soil. From the frontier of Russia west of 
"Warsaw to St. Petersburg, and from the capital, through 
Moscow and Nijni, to Astrakhan, is a journey of about three 
thousand miles. The constant feature of that route is white 
sand, the worst and most hopeless, thankless soil for cultiva- 
tion. There is no natural fertility ; and this is exhibited by 
the surest proofs. There are none but stunted trees other 
than the pino and fir, and the landscape is therefore without 
a charm which is present in every English county. It may 
well be doubted whether the scrubby wastes of the Crimea 
would repay the cost of cultivation, if that were attempted ; 
but there can be no question that, taking the Empire from 
north to south, and east to west, Russia is, and will remain, 
the poorest country in Europe. There are rich lands in Rus- 
sia in the south-west; but the existence of these, to which 
the Emperor Nicholas would gladly have added the territory 
now known as Roumania, does not neutralize the fact that, 
for the most part, the Empire consists of plains of white sand, 
which, if Central Russia were rainless as Central and South- 
ern Persia, would be arid and irreclaimable desert, because 
there are no mountains in which water might be stored for 
irrigation. It is noteworthy, also, that the recent conquests 
of Russia in Asia have been of the same quality, and, so far 
from adding to the wealth of the Empire, are probably bur- 
densome to the revenue. Except where Persian territory 
borders upon the Caspian in its southern extremity, Russia 
is sole owner of the shores of that sea; but there is hardly 
a mile of her large frontage upon the Caspian which for agri- 
cultural purposes is worth the cost of occupation. 

These facts augment the anxieties of her neighbors. Not 
only on the Pruth, but east of the Black Sea, where her Geor- 
gian and Persian conquests border upon the Shah's province 
of Azerbaijan, and again east of the Caspian, where the At- 
trek marks her off from the Persian Province of Astrabad, 



REVENUE OF RUSSIA. 97 

Russia looks upon territory of great natural fertility which 
is not her own. And in her approach to the northern bor- 
ders of India she occupies a position wherein this contrast 
of her own poverty with her neighbor's wealth is even more 
remarkable. 

In spite, however, of the terrible weight of her increasing 
debt and improductive expenditure, her people appear to be 
cheaply governed, if we compare them with other popula- 
tions of Europe. But as they are poorer than any other peo- 
ple of that continent, the comparison would be unfair. It 
would be a very nice question to decide how far they have 
been enabled to support their burdens by the largely unpro- 
ductive expenditure upon railways and other public works, 
the cost of which has been chiefly provided for by English 
capital. The revenue gathered from a population which 
approaches (including the Asiatic dominions of Russia) 
90,000,000, does not amount to £77,000,000 — much less 
than £1 per head. Great as is the cost of the Russian army 
— £23,716,000 in 1874 — they "drank themselves out of it" 
with the exhibition of a surplus; for this people who, in 
company with all their Northern neighbors to the extrem- 
ity of Ireland, are among the most drunken in Europe, con- 
tributed £27,609,000 in 1874 to the revenue by means of 
excise duties on spirits and other intoxicating drinks. By 
this means, and by the poll-tax, nearly three-fifths of the 
revenue are provided, the poll-tax yielding in the same year 
no less than 122,000,000 rubles. To what extent Russian 
ability in the matter of taxation has been assisted by the an- 
nual expenditure of £12,000,000 to £15,000,000 of borrow- 
ed money, I shall not attempt to determine. But it is clear 
that Russia has borrowed about £70,000,000 for the con- 
struction of railways, and I can not accept the argument of 
the Economist that this great sum " is at least no more than 
can be afforded, even if the railways are directly and in- 

5 



98 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN-. 

directly unprofitable, because the interest of these loans is 
charged in the accounts, and there is still a balance of rev- 
enue and expenditure, or even a small surplus." To uphold 
this proposition, it would be necessary to prove that Russia 
can maintain this equilibrium when the annual expenditure 
of £15,000,000 of borrowed money is discontinued; and, from 
all that I have lately seen of Russia, I have no confidence in 
the statement that this outlay, which now produces an income 
of only £2,132,000, will be remunerative. Of course, I do 
not deny that railways are necessary to the existence of the 
Russian Empire. 

The Government of Russia rewards distinguished citizens 
and successful traders who are loyal and respected, by making 
them free from all taxation. There are probably four or five 
thousand of these privileged untaxed citizens in Moscow, and 
it is not ordained that, paying nothing, they shall have no 
voice in the general expenditure. Quite the contrary. Own- 
ers of a hundred arpents of land, which is the qualification 
for one who has the legal privileges of a "proprietor," elect 
in great part the provincial assemblies, which elect the provin- 
cial judges; and perhaps it would be impossible for any sys- 
tem to be more strongly marked with injustice than one in 
which all those most able to pay are exempt from taxation, 
and have a powerful voice in the election of judges who can 
not afford to disregard the claims of important constituents 
because their tenure of the judicial office is only for three 
years, at the expiration of which they must, if they desire to 
continue their functions, again submit their candidature to 
the provincial assemblies. It should, however, be said that 
these provincial judges can not sentence a prisoner to more 
than one year's confinement, and can not deal with civil cases 
in which the amount claimed is over five hundred rubles. 



PERSIAN PASSENGEES. 99 



CHAPTER YII. 

The Delta of the Volga. — Persian Passengers. — The Constantine. — Pe- 
trovsk. — Derbent. — "Le Feu ]6ternel." — Persian Merchandise. — Persian 
Clothing. — A Colored Deck-load.— Russian Trio of Spirits. — "Un Knut 
Eusse." — Baku. — "Dominique." — Dust of Baku. — The Khan of Baku. — 
The Maiden's Tower. — Russian Naval Station. — Petrolia in Asia. — Baku 
Oil-carts. — The Petroleum Wells. — Kalafy Company. — Pire-worship. — 
Parsees and Persians. — The Indian Priest. — The Surakhani Temple. — 
Manufacture of Petroleum. 

We quitted the line of our travels at Astrakhan for this 
digression into the general affairs of Russia. The delta of 
one great river is very much like that of another, and there 
are no peculiar features about the delta of the Volga. For 
fourteen hours, the long barge in which we sat, in company 
with nearly a hundred passengers (mostly Persians, many 
from the provinces of Old Persia, which have long been Rus- 
sian, and a few from the dominions of the Shah), was tugged 
by a small steamboat from Astrakhan to the steamship Con- 
stantme, which was moored in the shallow waters of the Cas- 
pian. We were along-side about two in the morning of the 
last day of September. There was a dreadful pell-mell: the 
Persian passengers being anxious to secure the most sheltered 
places on the deck for their bales of pillows and carpets, their 
caged canai'ies and pipe-cases. Bags and bundles were has- 
tily lifted from the barge, and descended like a shower upon 
the decks of the Constantine; and in the cabins of the first- 
class the pressure of Armenians of doubtful cleanliness was 
so great, that w^e had difficulty in obtaining attention. When 
at last our cabin was lighted, there was, of course, no bed- 
ding, and, to our horror, the walls and roof were covered with 



100 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAN. 

crawling creatures of small and suspicious form. They van- 
ished at the candle-light; and observing the preference of 
these insects for darkness, the sleep we had upon the Gon- 
stantine was consequently accomplished by illumination of 
our cabin. 

The Constantine is not a Russian-built ship ; she, like all 
the vessels of the same line, came from Great Britain in pieces, 
and was put together upon the shores of the Caspian. After 
steaming about fifty miles from her moorings near the en- 
trance to the Volga, the Constantine lay to in twenty-four 
feet of water, on account of a strong east wind, which in the 
deeper sea would have caused the shijD to roll so as to jeop- 
ardize the piles of Persian baggage upon the main-deck. The 
carpets and rich silks would certainly have been soaked with 
the very salt water of the Caspian. In two days we reached 
the harbor of Petrovsk, a straggling town upon the edge of 
a mountainous country, from which there is a good road to 
Tiflis ; and at the next station we could see the high walls of 
Derbent, as we anchored beneath them in moonlight. This 
is a fortress which Peter the Great wrested from Persia in 
1'722. 

When travelers are told in Russian, French, and German 
that on their way down the Caspian Sea it is absolutely nec- 
essary, for their information and advantage, that they should 
stay at Baku and see the " everlasting fire," they are natural- 
ly inclined to yield to this concurrence of advice. So it hap- 
pened that when the Constantine rounded the promontory 
on which Baku stands, and, facing suddenly northward, ap- 
proached the long range of bare, brown hills which shelter this 
chief town and port of the Caspian from the coldest winds, 
we were prepared to make Baku our home for a week at least. 

I am sorry I am not a painter, and can not render in colors 
the aspect of the vessel we were about to leave. What an 
Oriental picture the after-deck would have made ! There was 



A COLOEED DECK-LOAD. 101 

not a foot of space which was not covered with Persian car- 
pets. The deck had been quartered out among themselves, 
with fair regard to the balance of power, by the Persian 
traders returning from Nijni ; and in groups of three or four 
they lay intrenched beneath their gorgeously colored saddle- 
bags and bundles, stuffed with rich shawls, with finely worked 
saddle-cloths, and with silks of most beautiful colors. The 
barricades between each group were sometimes four or fi^ve 
feet in height, and there were many curious boxes and cages 
containing canaries, whose yellow plumage and sweet song are 
much esteemed both at Baku and in Teheran. There was not 
a man among them who did not wear a fine turquois set in 
a leaden ring, though all were third-class passengers ; not one 
without the tall hat of black fur or felt, or without robes of 
those soft colors which the Western world of fashion has 
but lately learned to love. They were the same Persians — at 
least in manners and appearance — as those whose acquaint- 
ance we all made years and years ago in " The Arabian Nights' 
Entertainments." A patriarch, with nails and beard dyed red 
with khenna, stood blowing out his water-pipe — the Persians 
call it " kalian " — in preparation for the shore. Three young 
men sat near us in outer robes of black, which, like the cover- 
ing of some tropical insect, heightened the effect of the bright 
coloring of their bodies, which were covered with tunics of 
red, green, and purple, decorated with silver and gold. They 
were on a coverlet of red silk, quilted upon a thick lining of 
cotton wool, and behind each man lay a richly colored pillow. 
The three were pecking, like fowls in a yard, but with their 
fingers, at the half of a water-melon, the inside of which had 
been slashed into pieces with a knife. In another " encamp- 
ment," one who might, as he wore the green turban, be a de- 
scendant of the Prophet of Islam, was reading to the others 
from the Persian version of "Joseph and Potiphar's wife." 
In the Persian, the encounter of virtuous Joseph with the am- 



102 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

orons Zulaikha is worked up into a tale of infidelity, passion, 
and revenge, and, for obvious reasons, is very much in vogue 
in Persia — as popular as a book can be in a country where 
publication in finely written manuscript is still common, and 
where there is virtually but one book — the Koran. 

The passage from Astrakhan has been a very rough one ; 
and we may add, that all Byron has said of the fate of the 
traveler in the "Euxine" might be told with equal truth of 
the nauseous swell of the Caspian. We ventured, as mem- 
bers of Mr. Plimsoll's committees, to ask the captain why he 
allowed his main-deck to be so loaded and encumbered that 
the sailors could only pass to the wheel by walking upon the 
bulwarks of the vessel. "Ah," he replied, "these Persian 
people won't give up their baggage. They would cry if I 
sent it down into the hold. They think every body is going 
to rob them, and that nothing out of sight is safe. As a fact, 
I believe they do rob each other whenever they get an op- 
portunity. They would rather risk having their carpets and 
things washed with sea-water on deck than put them safe in 
the hold." Certainly our fellow-passengers were foolish as to 
their baggage ; but as to themselves, almost any corner of the 
open deck was better than to endure the vile atmosphere of 
the cabins, where the smells of a Russian dram-shop and of an 
unventilated Spanish prison seemed to be mingled in almost 
suffocating odor. Early in the voyage we had paid the pen- 
alty of opening our cabin window, in having our bedding 
soaked by a huge wave ; and, to the indignation of the stew- 
ard, the waters from our window had passed beneath our door 
into public view. Tliere was the alternative of the deck-sa- 
loon, where no one would suffer a window to be oj)en ; where 
every body smoked tobacco, and spit in every direction ex- 
cept that of the neglected s^Dittoon; where there was sus- 
pended a tinseled image of St. Constantino, patron saint of our 
vessel, whose fixed eyes stared upon the invariable Russian 



BAKU. 103 

trio of bottles, containing spirits, brown, green, and white, all 
ardent and intoxicating. Both captain and passengers seemed 
much more devoted to the spirits than to the saint. The pres- 
ence of English names upon every part of the ship betrayed 
the backwardness of mechanical skill in Russia — a country 
which seems to be full of kindly, good-natured people, steeped, 
for the most part, above the ears in superstition, but loyal to 
their Church and Tsar to a degree almost fanatical, and quite 
beyond comparison with the sentiments of the less simple- 
minded people of Western Europe. 

" Voiia un knut Russe, monsieur," laughed a Russian offi- 
cer in my ear. We were approaching the wooden quay, where 
the police of Baku were thrusting the crowd of too urgent 
porters back from the gangway, and threatening them with 
short but terrible whips, a representation in miniature of the 
" knout," of which we read in childhood with so much horror 
at the barbarity of Russian punishments. The porters, some 
w^it-h huge pads on the back of the neck, others carrying cords 
in their hands, with which to balance or secure their loads, 
were a body of strong men, twenty or thirty, at least, whose 
bare limbs of every shade, from the ebony of Africa to the 
copper of Southern Persia, and the redder tinge of native 
Baku, protruded from rags which seemed to have neither 
shape nor fastening. The Baku policemen are a most pecul- 
iar institution. They wear a Circassian costume, with huge 
muft'-shaped hats of white or black sheep-skin ; and, besides 
their lash, carry a long sword and a dagger. One must, how- 
ever reluctantly, admit that something more than the " Move 
on" or "Stand back, can't you?" of our own Policeman X is 
needed to maintain order among Baku boatmen and porters. 
The former have a very savage appearance, which indeed is 
common to the boatmen of the Caspian. Waving aloft their 
spade- shaped oars, propellers as primitive as those of any 
Sandwich Islanders, they invoke with smiles and shouts, ris- 



104 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAYAN. 

ing to screams and shrieks, if their overtures do not receive 
attention, the descent of passengers into their boats ; and the 
porters, who unite the powers of the camel to the pertinacious 
apjDetite — for baggage — of hungry jackals, are not easy to 
manage. We were about to engage three, when one seized 
upon our trunks, and, piling two together upon a high seat, 
passed a cord round the load, and with a face beaming with 
satisfaction at the prospect of a good job, bent almost double, 
and took the pile, like the howdah of an elephant, upon his 
back. Along the wooden jetty he led us to the street, and 
delivered his burden to the turbaned driver of one of several 
two-horsed carriages, better and handsomer than any which 
stand for hire in London, or in Paris, or St. Petersburg. 
These carriages were all open barouches, clean and bright, as 
things may be where there is no rain or mud for many months. 
In Baku, when, as often happens, these carriages are drawn 
by white or gray horses, the manes and tails are dyed pink, 
after the Persian manner. 

When a stranger — a European — arrives in Baku, nobody 
seems to have any doubt as to his destination. In the first 
place, he, with all his luggage, must desire to go to "Domi- 
nique." If a European landed at Baku and said nothing, 
he would be taken to Dominique. No one ever alludes to 
" the Hotel d'ltalie," though that is synonymous with Domi- 
nique, who is, in fact, the landlord of that hotel. Along 
the quays, past the baths floating in the clear, bitter-salt sea, 
through the dusty place, we drove to Dominique, where, 
after surmounting the ground-floor, occupied with casks and 
stores, by a lengthy flight of wooden stairs, we were shown 
into rooms with floors thickly sanded by the sea-breeze, each 
"furnished" with a bare bedstead and a chair. At our re- 
quest, Dominique slouched in, a man with a cigar in his 
mouth and ear-rings in his ears, spitting now and then as he 
approached — a man with the appearance of a Levantine sailor 



"DOMINIQUE." 105 

who had once been an Italian of Leghorn or Genoa. Domi- 
nique has none of the deferential manner of the average ho- 
tel-keeper. No fear of rivals haunts his mind. He is Domi- 
nique; and if any one comes to Baku with sufficient money 
in his pocket, a room in Dominique's house is his by a sort 
of right which Dominique does not question, but to the exer- 
cise of which he seems profoundly indifferent. The rooms 
are sandy, but so is all Baku, except where the streets are 
spread with a mixture of water and the dregs of petroleum ; 
and if bedding is required, Dominique keeps a little in store 
for eccentrics from Western Euro]3e, and will produce a 
scanty supply of linen for a consideration in the bill. 

Dominique is a quaint, pleasant fellow, and, from the spa- 
cious balcony, points out, between puffs of his cigar, the chief 
objects of interest in Baku. Peter the Great, he says, built 
that strong wall which surrounds the old town when he had 
captured Baku from the Persians. But Russia, he adds, lost 
it again ; and it was not till the beginning of the present cent- 
ury that Baku became a part of the Russian Empire. He 
directs our eyes to the sombre, solid building, placed in a sta- 
tion of command where the town rises highest — the old pal- 
ace of the Khans of Baku — now nsed as a military store-house; 
a building, in its fluted arches and in other features thorough- 
ly Persian or Moorish, but, though very similar in style, infi- 
nitely inferior in design and workmanship to the palaces of 
the Deys of Tunis and Algiers. A merchant (an Armenian) 
joins us — there is much freedom and fellowship at Domi- 
nique's — and kindly volunteers a recital of the legend concern- 
ing " The Maiden's Tower," the most prominent building in 
Baku, a huge cylinder of masonry rising in the lower jDart of 
the town, which is somehow connected at present with the wa- 
ter supply of the place. The khan, it appears, had a daugh- 
ter — lovely, of course, like all the ladies of all the legends — 
whose will he desired to coerce — matrimonially, we need not 

5* 



106 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN-. 

say. The daughter, whose inclinations were opposed to her 
father's commands, ascended the tower, which the khan was 
then building, and soon afterward her lifeless body was car- 
ried from its foot. 

Dominique ejaculates the Italian equivalent for "rubbish!" 
and points, as more worthy of attention, to the farther side 
of the bay, to the white buildings of the Russian naval sta- 
tion, in front of whic?i there are two steam corvettes lying at 
anchor. One looks with interest on these ships of war, im- 
prisoned on this isolated, land - locked sea, destined never to 
meet with their equals or superiors under other flags, for 
Persia has no ships of war — can not, must not, by treaty with 
Russia, have them in the Caspian ; and where is the possible 
enemy who will bring ships of war in pieces from the Tigris 
or the Black Sea to be put together in a hostile country? 
They have, however, a useful function in preventing piracy 
in the Caspian, and at no very distant day these vessels may 
be called upon to cover and protect with the fire of their 
guns the landing of Russian troops upon the Persian shore. 
The harbor of Baku is not only the best in the Caspian, but 
it is the only capacious, sheltered port in that sea. 

At Baku rain rarely falls; the sky is generally cloudless; 
but if a man has the fixed popular belief that his life will en- 
dure until he has eaten the proverbial " peck of dirt," and no 
longer, then he will only expedite his end by coming to Baku. 
It is more dusty than San Francisco or Odessa, the dustiest 
towns of Europe and America, and one must be careful, or 
he may swallow " the peck " in a month. 

Baku is part of Old Persia. Nine-tenths of the population 
are descendants of subjects of Shah Abbas. The manners 
and customs of the bazaars are thoroughly Persian. The old 
men, in striking contrast to their high hats of black fur, dye 
their beards bright- red with khenna. Very few women of 
the superior class are to be seen. We arrived in company 



PETEOLIA IN ASIA. 107 

with many men who had been absent from their homes in 
Baku for months, trading at Nijni -Novgorod, but no wives 
met this " husbands' boat " from Europe. The Persian wom- 
en in Russian Baku rarely leave their homes. There were 
three or four shuffling along the quay with slippered feet, 
closely covered from the sight of man, and groups of washer- 
women labored in the ripples of the shore, who were careless 
as to any other exposure, so that they could clap something 
over their faces at sight of a passing stranger. 

There is not a tree or shrub to be seen upon the arid hills 
and stony steppe, and the odor of naphtha is never out of the 
nostrils. Baku has for ages past been celebrated in the East- 
ern World for that which every one in the town who can 
speak three words of French calls Le Feu Eternel ; and in 
these days — when her native population is sprinkled with 
sharp Armenians who would rake profits out of this or any 
other fire, and some streets are bordered with houses of 
European style — Baku presents the aspect of an Oriental 
town, conscious of coming greatness and higher civilization 
under a different system, when her subterranean riches shall 
have become better known, and be more largely brought 
forth. Baku has " struck oil ;" and before many years are 
past, the world will hear much more of this obscure town — 
this Petrolia in Asia. The engines of the Constantme — the 
ship in which his imperial majesty the Shah traversed the 
Caspian — were driven with petroleum. Coal, the captain 
told us, costs eighteen and a half rubles per hour, while pe- 
troleum costs only one and a half rubles — a reduction from 
fifty shillings to four shillings. In three years Baku Avill be 
united by railway with Tiflis and the Black Sea, and then 
probably all the Russian steamships on the Euxine will be 
supplied Avith the same disagreeable but inexpensive fuel. 
The machinery for combustion reminded us of one of those 
pretty contrivances for blowing the spray of liquid scent 



108 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAI^. 

about a drawing-room. As the coarse residue of the petro- 
leum — for it is the dregs or sediment only which is burned — 
pours in a thin, muddy stream from a tap near the door of 
each furnace, a jet of steam, generated by a coal fire, blows 
it into spray, and thus it is consumed, wdth an even heat, 
throughout the furnaces of the engines. 

All day long petroleum rolls into Baku in carts of the most 
curious pattern imaginable. A Neapolitan single-horse, two- 
wheeled carriage for fifteen people is unique, but it is com- 
monplace in comparison with an oil-cart of Baku. Few men 
would have the courage to import a Baku oil-cart, and drive 
it, even for a very high wager, through Regent Street or Pall 
Mall. Where is the man who would dare to pose himself 
there, perched and caged in a little railed cart, big enough to 
hold one barrel of petroleum, and lifted so high on wheels 
seven feet in diameter, that another huge tub can be slung be- 
neath the axle, the Avhole thing being painted with all the col- 
ors of the rainbow, and creaking loudly as it is drawn by a 
diminutive horse, the back of which is hardly up to a level 
Avith the axle ? Yet the exploiteurs say that already they pay 
collectively not much less than one hundred thousand pounds 
a year for the cartage of oil in carriages of this sort. They 
were eager to show us the oil-wells, and hojDef ul, as they are 
much in want of capital, that we should send them some meek 
and moneyed Englishmen, We set out to visit the "ever-^ 
lasting fire" and these mines of liquid wealth, in a dust-storm, 
with horses so active that we might su23pose they too were 
fed with naphtha. 

In the outskirts of Baku, where we saw a scorpion for the 
first time, the country is all dust and desolation — a desert in 
which every one with an original turn of mind may make his 
own road. For two or three miles along the shore of the 
bay, the many buildings in which the petroleum is refined by 
itself as fuel pour forth dense smoke, and at eight miles from 



KALAFY COMPANY. 109 

the town are the springs. The average depth at which the 
oil is touched seems to be about a hundred and fifty feet. 
The wells are, for the most part, nine inches to a foot in di- 
ameter. From the first well we visited, a small steam-engine, 
with most primitive gear, was lifting about four hundred and 
fifty thousand pounds' weight of petroleum in a day. The 
oil is of greenish color, and, as it is drawn from the earth, is 
emptied into a square pit dug in the surface soil, from whence 
men take it in buckets and pour it into skins or barrels, the 
charge at the wells being at the rate of one and a half pence 
per fifty pounds' weight of oil. At the works of the Kalafy 
Company, an Armenian concern, when their well was first 
opened, the petroleum burst up in a fountain nine feet in di- 
ameter, a part of which rose forty feet in the air. At all the 
wells the oil is now raised in circular tubes about nine feet 
long and as many inches in diameter, with a valve at the lower 
end which opens on touching the ground, and closes when 
the tube is lifted. This cylinder is lowered empty, and raised 
again when filled with oil, in less than two minutes. A man 
pulls the full tube toward a tub, into which its contents are 
poured, and through a hole in the tub the oil runs into the 
pit from which the skins and barrels are filled. We were 
assured that the Baku petroleum is of better quality than the 
oil of Pennsylvania, and that it is less dangerous, because 
its flashing point of temperature is from thirty to forty de- 
grees higher than that of the American product. 

It is certainly very wonderful, upon a sandy plain, with not 
a tree nor a blade of grass in sight, to look upon a reservoir 
of liquid fuel thus drawn from this stony soil; yet to our 
thinking there w^as a spectacle much more curious, about 
twelve versts farther from Baku, when we came to one of the 
oldest altars in the world, erect and flaming with its natural 
burnt-offering to this day. Surakhani is an ancient seat of 
probably one of the most ancient forms of worship. For un- 



110 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

numbered ages, the gas which is generated by this subter- 
ranean store of oil, identical with that which caused the Re- 
gent's Park explosion, has escaped through long-established 
and inaccessible fissures in the limestone crag of which the 
hills in the neighborhood are composed, and the fire of this 
gas has lighted the prayers of generations of priests, as it 
blazed and flared away to the heavens. 

Fire-worship in Persia, of which until the eighteenth centu- 
ry Baku formed a part, is older than history. When we have 
passed about a thousand miles farther south, between Ispahan 
and Shiraz, we shall come, at the ruins of Istakr and Persep- 
oliSjUpon authentic traces of the reigns of Cyrus, of Darius, 
of Xerxes and Artaxerxes. But the fire-worshiping period is 
older than Cyrus. We do not know when the remnant of the 
fire-worshipers w^as driven southward, nor precisely how far 
we are justified in assuming the Parsees of India to be their 
descendants. But we find the Parsees using as sacred books 
the " Zendavesta " of the Zoroastrians ; and we know that at 
an obscure town between Kurrachee and Bombay there is a 
Parsee temple, the fire in which is regarded with peculiar rev- 
erence as the "oldest" fire in the world, the tradition among 
the Parsees being that this fire was originally brought in 
charred wood from a temple in Persia, and that it has never 
since been suffered to expire. It may be that the fire in this 
temple has been unextinguished for a period extending from 
before the time of Cyrus. "It is," says Professor Wester- 
gaard, " to this ante-Achsemenian period that I refer Zoroas- 
ter; and I find it therefore quite natural that he could have 
belonged to a remote and uncertain antiquity so early as in 
the fourth* century before Christ, when his name is first men- 
tioned by Greek authors. The main accounts of his lore date, 

* This may be a misprint in the preface to Westergaard's translation of 
the "Zendavesta." 



THE INDIAN PEIEST. Ill 

I think, from the period which they intimate ; and their lan- 
guage, two cognate dialects of very distinctive character, 
possesses a greater store of grammatical forms, and has an 
appearance less worn, and consequently older, than the old 
Persian, in the descriptions of Darius, the nearest cognate 
branch." 

For long, long ages, the worship of these flaming issues of 
petroleum gas at Surakhani has been maintained by delega- 
tions of priests from India, who have died and been buried 
upon the spot, to be succeeded by other devotees from the 
same country. It would, of course, be possible to extinguish 
the blaze, if one were to choke the fissures ; and the people 
about the place say that sometimes, when the wind rises to 
a hurricane, the fire is actually put out. The gas, however, 
can then at once be relighted with a match. We saw this 
done, not, as of yore, with mysterious incantations, and the 
terrified awe of superstitious worshipers, but — to what base 
uses may gods come ! — in order to burn lime for Baku, and 
to purify the oil raised from the natural reservoir in which 
the gas is generated. We thought that never, perhaps, had 
w^e seen a man more to be pitied than the "poor Indian," 
who is the successor of a long line of religiously appointed 
guardians of this once wholly sacred spot. There the light 
of this lamp of N'ature's making flared on its formerly hal- 
lowed altar-place, maid of all work to half a dozen degenerate 
Persians, now subjects of the Christian Tsar, who thought of 
nothing but making lime, and of warming their messes of 
sour milk and unleavened bread. In another place the gas 
was conducted from the surface of the ground into a furnace, 
where it flamed beneath vats of petroleum, in the process of 
refining the native oil by distillation. Surely there never was 
such a pitiful reductio ad absurdum I Before us stood the 
priest of a very venerable religion, which has always seemed 
to me to be one of the most noble and natural for a primitive 



112 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAN. 

people. There he stood, ready for half a ruble to perform 
the rites of his worn-out worship, and there also was the ob- 
ject of his life-long devotion set to work as economic firing. 
Such a rude encounter of the old and the new, of ideality and 
utility, of the practical and the visionary, was surely never 
seen elsewhere. 

I suspect that, as a Yankee would say, the worship of Le 
Feu JEternel at Baku is almost played out. Of course, the 
enlightened Parsee worships God in the fire, and not the fire 
as God ; his theory being, I believe, that the God of Nature 
can not be truly adored unless the worshiper has his atten- 
tion fixed upon one of the elements — fire, air, earth, or water. 
Failing fire, a Parsee may pray in open air, or beside a tree 
or stream. The " poor Indian " of Surakhani complains bit- 
terly that he is robbed of every thing by the Persian work- 
men, of whom probably not one now sees any mystery at all 
in these flames issuing from the earth. They are every day 
engaged with an inflammable material, and not a few have 
made perilous acquaintance with the explosive properties of 
the gas which is emitted from petroleum ; yet but few acci- 
dents seem to occur. 



A TARANTAS. 113 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Bathing in the Caspian. — The Way to Europe. — A Tarantas. — The Baku 
Club. — Mihailovski Gardens. — Leaving Baku. — Lenkoran, — Astara. — 
Petroleum on Deck. — Enzelli. — Persian Boatmen. — Mr. Consul Church- 
ill, C.B. — Enzelli Custom-house. — Sadr Azem's Konak. — The Shah's 
Yacht. — Lake of Enzelli. — Peri-bazaar. — Province of Ghilan. — Eesht. — 
Bazaar and "Green." — Women of Persia. — Their Street Costume. — 
Shopping in Bazaar. — Riding in Persia. — Chapar and Caravan. — Kerja- 
vas. — A Takht-i-rawan. — Leaving Resht. — Charvodars and Gholams. — 
Lucky and Unlucky Days.— Whips of Iron.—" Ul-lah."— The Bell Mule. 
— Houssein Mounted. — The First Station. — Our Camp Kitchen. — A Mud 
Hovel. 

We had bathed every day in the buoyant waters of the 
Caspian ; we had sailed two miles across the natural harbor 
to visit the Russian naval and military station, which will 
become still more imj^ortant as a base for operations in Cen- 
tral Asia when the railway from the Caucasus is complete. 
We had become known to many of the Armenian exporters 
of petroleum, who continually implored us to send them a few 
British capitalists (as if such people were to be picked uj) in 
London for the trouble of stooping), so that their works may 
be extended, and the oil produced more cheaply. We had 
made acquaintance with a " tarantas," and with the members 
of the Baku Club, before we prepared to quit that rising 
town. 

If we had decided to return to Europe by Tiflis, we must 
have taken a tarantas, or, rather, we must have purchased a 
tarantas ; for no one lends or lets a suitable carriage for that 
five days' journey, over a road which is impassable for car- 
riages of lighter construction than a tarantas. Where the 



114 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAYAN. 

return journey would cost more than the value of any vehicle 
in the country, hiring is of course out of the question. A ta- 
rantas is simply a stronge carriage, securely fixed upon half 
a dozen horizontal fir poles, the pliancy of which (and, being 
small trees, they are not very elastic) stands for springs. The 
wheels are small, and very strong. To the carriage, some- 
times three and sometimes seven horses are attached, accord- 
ing to the view which the postmaster at each station takes of 
the pocket of the traveler, of the engagements of his horses, 
and the condition of the road. The body of the tarantas is 
quite unfurnished. Some travelers from Baku make a seat 
by plaiting rope across from side to side of the carriage ; but 
it is more usual to make a seat of some box or bundle, inas- 
much as the traveler is expected to carry his luggage inside. 
A tarantas costs about fourteen pounds sterhng, and at the 
end of the journey will probably be found unsalable. In 
Dominique's yard, at Baku, there was a tarantas in which a 
British consul in Persia had traveled with his wife from 
Tiflis. Dominique had been told to sell it for the owner; 
but there it stood, rotting away with years of waiting for 
a purchaser. 

As seen by light of the oil of petroleum, the Baku Club 
is a pleasant institution. There is a sea-side garden at Baku 
in which a few shrubs are dragged through life by copious 
watering applied daily. They look dusty and unnatural by 
daylight, and so do the gayly-painted wooden pavilions; but 
at night, when the rippling sea can be heard between the 
pieces of music, the club meets in the highest of these pa- 
vilions. The garden is then full of people, and there is no 
stint of the light of petroleum oil. None may mount the 
steps of this pavilion who are not of the club. The pavilion 
is open to the garden, and is set out witli refreshment and 
card tables. In this place the Kussian officers of the station 
and the wealthier of the towns-folk of Baku, together with 



LENKOEAN. ASTAEA. 115 

their wives and families, appear to spend the happiest hours 
of their existence. 

The aggregated babble of their talk, a good deal of it real 
" coffee-house babble," and the strains of the music from this 
Mihailovski Garden, fell not unpleasantly on our ears, as we 
embarked late one evening for the realms of the Shah. There 
was a strong wind blowing; and the captain, who could speak 
German after the manner of a Finlander, said that if it con- 
tinued, which he did not think likely, we could not be landed 
in Persia, which has no port or harbor on the Caspian. Any 
body may take a ticket entitling the bearer to travel by the 
boats of the Caucasus and Mercury Company (which is heav- 
ily subsidized by the Tsar's Government) from Baku to the 
Persian town of Enzelli, the usual landing-place for Teheran ; 
but if, when the vessel arrives in the roadstead of Enzelli, 
the wind is blowing strongly from the north-north-east, there 
will be a surf rolling in which not all the power of Shah or 
Tsar can enable passengers to land. Who that has read the 
" Diary " of the Persian " Shadow of God " can forget the pa- 
thetic record of imperial and grand-vizierial sufferings when 
the Constantine rolled so fearfully off Enzelli that her yards 
nearly touched the waves, and the Shah, with the hand of ap- 
prehension placed on the stomach of discomposure, feared he 
w^ould never again touch the soil of his own Persia ! 

The scenery in the south of the Caspian is magnificent. 
At Lenkoran — a famous place for tiger-hunting — the sea is 
bordered with high mountains. We see the last of Russian 
territory at Astara, where a narrow river of that name limits 
for the present the conquests of Russia from Persia. We 
had four immense hogsheads of petroleum on board for As- 
tara, but our steam- vessel rolled so heavily that it was impos- 
sible to land them. They must be carried to Astrabad and 
back, more than five hundred miles ; and possibly upon the 
return journey there would be the same difficulty, and the 



116 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

enormous tubs must then be returned to Baku. On personal 
grounds, we were sorry not to be rid of this part of the cargo. 
The hogsheads were lashed to the funnel upon the main deck, 
and the Persian passengers used them frequently as a support 
for their kalians, from which the lighted charcoal rolled some- 
times on to the deck. It seemed to me that we lived in 
momentary danger of an explosion, which would have de- 
stroyed the vessel, with all its passengers and cargo. 

Possibly it was for a fair wind that the Persians were pray- 
ing at sunset upon the last evening of our voyage. There 
was hardly a man of the score or so upon the after-deck who 
had not, either in a bag hung round his neck or hidden in 
the top of his tall, brimless hat, a circular lump of sacred 
sun-baked clay, about the size of four half-crowns, taken from 
somewhere near the tomb of Houssein at Kerbela, in Turkish 
Arabia. When the supplicant knelt in prayer, this was laid 
before him upon the deck, so that he could press his fore- 
head upon the holy clay; and an elderly man who was not 
possessed of such precious fruit of that pilgrimage, which 
ranks next in importance to a religious journey to Mecca, 
borrowed the treasure from one of the company, and per- 
formed his devotions, with his face toward Mecca, while the 
previous supplicant was engaged in preparing the sugary 
tea-water, the " chie," which rich and poor in Persia seem to 
prefer to any other drink. 

Is it owing to their vegetable diet that Eastern people ap- 
pear so rarely to suffer from sea-sickness ? Those who have 
endured such sufferings, for which the Caspian offers much 
opportunity, will have passed Astara, and approached the 
shore at Enzelli with gladness. If the sea is moderate, as 
it most fortunately was when we arrived, they will not be 
sorry, even though there comes through the cabin windows 
a Babel of screams and shouts, varied with the cracking of 
wood, as the surf-boats are dashed by the waves against each 



PERSIAN BOATMEN. 117 

Other and upon the side of the steamship. While the bun- 
dles of reeds tied upon the bulwarks of the frail craft are 
crunching together, with what skill the half- naked rowers 
avoid tumbling into the sea, or suffering injury to their hands 
and arms! "Pedder sec!" ("Son of a dog!") shrieked a 
melon-seller with nothing upon him except a skull-cap of many 
colors, a beard dyed bright red, and a tattered pair of blue- 
cotton trousers. " Son of a dog !" he raved, as he saw his 
chance of early approach to the gangway diminished by the 
stealthy advance of an ingenious rival. To impute that a 
Persian's progenitor was canine rouses still more indignation 
than is evoked even when the average Briton is told that he 
may trace his pedigree to an ape ; to say " Pedder sec !" to 
a son of Iran is as bad as calling a Frenchman " cochon," or 
a German " dummkopf." But the triumph of the melon-sell- 
er's enemy was momentary; a Russian sailor, leaning over 
the bulwarks of the steamboat, snatched the skull-cap from 
the head of the ingenious intruder and flung it into the sea, 
exposing the shorn pathway from forehead to neck, which is 
the mode of " hair-dressing " common throughout Persia. 

In the terrific din caused by this exploit, there rose from 
another boat a tall Persian of melancholy aspect, with dark, 
dreamy eyes and handsome features, clad in a robe of sober 
green — a man with air and aspect very superior to those 
of the eight rowers before him. He had been looking long 
at us ; he laid his hand twice on the front of his fur hat as 
he bowed in salutation, and then handed up a card, which I 
gladly saw was that of Mr. Henry A. Churchill (who won the 
C.B. for his share in the defense of Kars during the Crimean 
War, with Colonel Fenwick Williams and others), the British 
consul at Resht. I had written to the consul — ignorant that 
Mr. Churchill, whom I had met in Algiers during his resi- 
dence there as consul-general, held the office, and he had 
kindly sent this man (who accompanied us as chief servant 



118 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAKAVAN. 

to Teheran) to guide us to Resht. Seeing me read the card, 
on which Mr. Churchill had written a recommendation of 
"Houssein, the bearer," the melancholy Persian placed his 
hand once more upon his head to indicate that he was Hous- 
sein, and at a sign from me he ordered our baggage to be 
lowered to the boat. 

The oars of our rowers reminded us of "the eight of 
spades ;" they pulled with short, sharp digs in the water as 
we moved slowly to the place where the Lake of Enzelli 
pours the muddy waters of the Peri-bazaar (I have adopted 
throughout the ordinary English spelling of this word) River 
into the Caspian. In front of the wooden building which 
serves as a custom-house at this northern gate of Persia, 
there is no landing-place ; some ragged, and more than half- 
naked, boys laid a plank from the bundle of reeds which 
formed the gunwale of our boat to the shore, and we landed, 
following Houssein into the only two-storied house in the 
place, the first floor of which was neatly spread with mats of 
grass. There were a few colored tiles over the door-ways, 
but the whitewashed walls were as bare as the mud-cement 
of the exterior, and on the matting there was not an article 
of furniture. 

We had fasted for many hours; and in that simple free- 
masonry of signs, familiar to all the world, I made known 
that on landing in Persia we wanted something to put in our 
mouths. Houssein had left us to attend to the baggage, and 
the bearded attendant seemed at once to understand and ap- 
preciate our wants. He hurried off, as I supposed, to bring 
some food, and soon re-appeared with a blue-glazed pitcher of 
water. The pitcher was pretty in design and coloring, but 
water was not quite all that we needed. It was not till we 
arrived at Resht that we discovered the full meaning of this 
watery provision ; the house which we had supposed to be a 
Persian hotel, where we could call for any thing — the kababs 



SADR AZEM'S KONAK. 119 

of the bazaars, the cakes of ISToureddin Hassan, or the sweet- 
meats of the harems — was indeed a villa, a " kouak," belong- 
ing to the acting Sadr Azem, the Prime Minister of Persia, 
in which, by special favor, we were allowed to take shelter 
for half an hour from the sun while a boat was being pre- 
pared to carry us twelve miles across the Lake of Enzelli. It 
was the first suggestion of that which is almost universal 
throughout Persia. The traveler will have no difficulty in 
finding a bare room in the towns. At a palace the servants 
in charge will cheerfully, if he looks likely to give them a 
present, put apartments at his disposal, and the floors may, 
perhaps, be covered with matting ; but for all other require- 
ments he must depend upon himself or his own attendants. 

The white awning and cushions of our boat gave promise 
of comfort. The Shah's steam yacht, also white, was moored 
close at hand, and soon we had rowed past her to enter the 
shallow lagoon or lake which lies between Enzelli and Resht. 
A pensive, slender lad, with features of exquisite form, took 
his place behind us at the helm. His flowing robe of light 
stuff, resembling cashmere, appeared hardly suited for his 
occupation, but he had evidently a skillful knowledge of the 
currents and shallows of this muddy lake, upon which the sun 
was glaring. The banks were hidden from us by tall reeds, 
their tops waving ten feet above the water; and rising be- 
hind this rustling fringe, we could see the highest trees of 
the rank, dense jungle, which is famous as the home of ti- 
gers, and of the huge water-fowl, which screamed and fluttered 
among the reeds as we passed. It was veiy slow work get- 
ting across the lake with oars shaped like a baker's " peel," 
and three hours had passed before we reached the oozy banks 
of the Peri-bazaar Piver. Then the spades were shipped, and 
a long rope, attached to the very top of the mast, was handed 
to the shore. The rowers landed, and disapjDcared among the 
reeds. On the muddy bank they harnessed themselves to 



120 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

the roj)e, which, descending to them from the mast, touched 
only the heads of the reeds as they moved swiftly along the 
river -side. The scene was as purely natural as if we had 
been exploring some country never before trodden by the foot 
of man. The brown stream was not more than sixty feet 
wide. The current seemed to be silenced by the weight of 
mud suspended in the water ; the air was still and oj^pressive 
between the high walls of reeds. Sometimes, where, for a 
few yards, there were no reeds, we could see the heads of our 
crew, who were pushing their way through the grass of the 
jungle; and now and then there was a buzz, or a loud rattle 
among the reeds, and a gorgeous pheasant, or a wild turkey, 
or a long-legged stork sailed over our heads to the other side 
of the river. After being tugged in this way for an hour, we 
arrived at a landing-place, to which there was a stony foot- 
path leading from a large house partly in ruins. By the 
river- side there was a group of people, excited at the ap- 
proach of our boat. This was Peri-bazaar, from whence we 
had to ride seven miles — is it not written in the Shah's 
Diary? — to Resht. We bought some of the only food to be 
obtained at Peri-bazaar, a few grapes, and about a foot sqviare 
of the brown flabby bread of the country, in thickness and 
general appearance very like soaked leather. Our boxes 
were hoisted on to the backs of mules, and secured with 
cords of camel's hair neatly plaited; the melancholy Hous- 
sein then grandly waved us to a carriage which it appeared 
he had specially retained for our advantage. 

We were told at Resht that this was the one and only car- 
riage in the whole province of Ghilan, recently imported from 
Russia by a khan of high degree, who, it seems, Avas not above 
letting it out to Houssein for our use. It was, in fact, a 
superannuated Russian droschky of the meanest kind. We 
planted our feet with utmost firmness, and grasped the sides 
for safety as it moved off, uneasy as the waves of Enzelli. 



PEOVINCE OF GHILAN. 121 

Bat for the dignity of the thing, as the Irishman said of the 
bottomless sedan-chair, one of us would as soon have walked ; 
but any exhibition of contempt might have been the death of 
the gloomy Houssein, so proud, was he of this chariot. The 
admiration of the people of Peri-bazaar, who had probably 
not seen a wheeled conveyance since his Imperial Majesty the 
Shah rumbled that way in a carriage, was an insufficient con- 
solation. As we rattled along, sometimes between rice-fields, 
from which the crop had been lately gathered, at others be- 
tween thick groves, there was water always on both sides 
standinoj his^h in the ditches. 

The province of Ghilan, of which Resht is the chief town, 
must be one of the most fertile areas in the world. From 
Enzelli to Peri-bazaar, and for miles beyond Resht, the coun- 
try is a flat marsh, perennially manured with rank and rot- 
ting vegetation. Yet in places the richly green lane through 
which we approached Resht resembled parts of Devonshire. 
The verdure was so bright, the climate so agreeable, we might 
almost have fancied it to be a day of early autumn in En- 
gland, save that at every turn we met some Persian, long- 
robed in blue, or yellow, or russet-brown, sometimes perched 
between the humps of a sententious camel, sometimes upon 
the hinder extremity of a very good-looking donkey, a most 
awakening object to one who was dreaming of distant En- 
gland. Wherever there was a hole, it was filled with stag- 
nant water, which the sun lifted in unwholesome vapors. The 
undrained approaches to Resht reeked with filth, and people 
were picking their way close by the walls of the houses and 
gardens, in order to avoid the abyss of muddy slush which 
awaited them in the centre. The day was hot, but our horses' 
hoofs were hidden in mud as we passed through the bazaar, 
in which there was hardly room for our miserable carriage 
amidst the crowd which pressed to see the strangers. 

The way was so narrow that any one of the stall-keepers 

6 



122 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

on either side could have handed goods to us from his seat. 
But they themselves appeared far more attractive than their 
wares; than their gaudy horse-trappings of reddish leather, 
decorated with strips of carpets or pieces of bead- work, and 
hung with red and yellow tassels of silk or wool, and bells of 
silver or brass; their bowls of sour cream, their eggs (many 
of them colored red, a common practice in Persia), pomegran- 
ates, Russian candles, figs, and cotton prints, some of the last 
from Manchester, of those special patterns which are never to 
be met with in the home markets. They all squat upon their 
heels, in a position peculiar to the Persians — a posture which 
no man could assume whose joints had not been trained to it 
from childhood. From the bazaar we drove across a large 
open space, resembling the " green " of many an English vil- 
lage. It was dotted with trees, and boys were playing in cos- 
tumes which made the sylvan scene, one extremely pretty and 
effective, appear to our eyes almost theatrical. 

A few women are seen. We met one sitting astride on 
horseback, as all Eastern women ride. AYe believe them to 
be Avomen because of their costume and size; but we can 
see no part of them, not even a hand or an eye. They arc 
shrouded from the head to the knees in a cotton or silk sheet 
of dark blue or black ; the " chudder," it is called, which pass- 
es over the head, and is held with the hands around and about 
the body. Over the " chudder " there is tied round the head 
a yard-long veil of white cotton or linen, in which, before the 
eyes, is a piece of open work about the size of a finger, which 
is their only lookout and ventilator. The veil passes into the 
"chudder" at the chin. Every woman before going out-of- 
doors puts on a pair of loose trousers, generally of the same 
stuff and color as the "chudder," and thus her outdoor se- 
clusion and disguise are complete. Her husband could not 
recognize her in the street. In this costume, Mohammedan 
women grope their way about the towns of Persia. Their 



SHOPPING IN BAZAAR. 123 

trousers are tightly bound about the ankles above their col- 
ored stockings, which are invariably of home manufacture; 
and slippers, with no covering for the heel, complete the un- 
sightly, unwholesome apparel of these uncomfortable victims 
of the Persian reading of the Koran. 

In the East the appearance of guests is, we may say, never 
the first announcement of their arrival. From the " green " 
of Resht, Houssein galloped off at a wild pace, and we were 
soon very kindly welcomed by Mr. Churchill, whom, as I have 
said, I had met in Algiers, when he was consul-general in that 
pleasant colony. He and Mrs. Churchill hospitably entertain- 
ed us for a day while we were hurriedly preparing for our 
ride to Teheran. On the way to Persia, one learns, if igno- 
rant before, that in traveling there one must be self-depend- 
ent for all but fruit and the plainest and coarsest of uncooked 
food ; yet with the experience of Europe, and even of Pales- 
tine and Egypt, where dragomans abound, and of Algeria, 
with its Arab-French caravanserais, a traveler is slow to be- 
Heve that this can really be the fact. The roughness of Rus- 
sian travel, especially the absence of bedding, prepares one 
for worse in Persia, and at Resht the whole truth becomes 
evident. It is well to be forewarned and forearmed. We 
were fortunate in meeting, at any price, with camp bedsteads 
and bedding of English make, and into the dirt of the Resht 
bazaar we plunged to obtain other necessaries for the journey 
to Teheran. The noise of w^ooden hammers upon metal pots 
led us to the department where we had to purchase a whole 
hatterie de cuisine. Intended for use over w^hat is known in 
England as a gypsy fire, none of the Persian pots are pro- 
vided with handles. The Persian smiths seem to have no 
faith in solder; perhaps they do not know how to prepare it. 
And all Persian pots are of copper; so that after buying what 
Houssein thought requisite, we left the saucepans to be tinned 
upon the inside — an operation which in all Persian households 



.124 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAX. 

is renewed at intervals of about three weeks. Houssein and 
the servants of the Consulate kept off a curious crowd, who 
api^eared to be deeply interested in watching our selection of 
innumerable yards of cotton for sheets and other purposes. 
Later in the evening, our servant brought in, with an air of 
triumph, a folding-table, which bore the name, roughly carved 
upon its surface, of an English officer of Royal Engineers, 
who had been traveling the previous year in Persia; and to 
Houssein, when we grew tired of shopping, we left the pur- 
chase of candlesticks and glasses, saddle-bags and bridles, and 
the necessary stores of food. 

There is but one mode of traveling in the interior of Per- 
sia. Even from Resht to the capital, on the most frequented 
road in all the empire, no carriage can travel except with a 
sufficient number of men to lift it over places which are oth- 
erwise impassable. It was with the help of such bearers 
that the Shah was able to accompany his " carriage." Yet 
perhaps it would be more correct to say that there are two 
modes. The traveler may buy horses and mules ; the average 
cost will be about ten pounds sterling for each animal. He 
will then have to provide pack-saddles as well as riding-sad- 
dles, and gholams, or grooms, to feed and load his horses and 
mules; or he may hire all the animals he requires from a 
muleteer, or " charvodar." In the latter case, the horses will 
not be so good-looking, but they will probably know the 
road, and be quite as safe in riding over rough paths which 
are sometimes dangerous. The charvodar and his gholams 
will be responsible for the stabling, feeding, and loading of 
the animals. The cost of a mule hired in this way, from 
Resht to Teheran, is about fifty krans, or two pounds English, 
for a ten days' march. It is usual to give the muleteers a 
present at the end of the journey if they have behaved well — 
a toman, about eight shillings, each. One may travel "cha- 
par " or " caravan ;" the latter being to the former as goods- 



" -r-TT^T^Ti-rr. c 'J 



KEEJAVAS. ' 125 

train to express. In traveling " chapar," or, as the Anglo - 
Persians say, in "chaparing," saddle-horses are taken from 
one post-honse or station ("menzil"is the Persian word), 
and galloped twelve, twenty, or sometimes five - and - twenty 
miles, to the next station. Those who travel with bedsteads 
and bedding and boxes can not travel " chapar." They, with 
their baggage-mules, must form a caravan, and march from 
station to station at a rate of about three miles an hour, which 
is as fast as mules can walk. Those, in fact, are described as 
riding " caravan " who travel at the pace of loaded mules. 

For men and women who suffer from being in the saddle 
for so many hours, there is a choice between the " kerjava " 
and the " takht-i-rawan." The kerjava, in its best appear- 
ance, takes the form of two very small gypsy tents made of 
light bands of wood, the top bent circular, and covered with 
shawls or carpets. In each of these tents a man or woman 
sits after the kerjavas have been slung, like panniers, across 
the saddle of a strong mule. In the kerjava one must sit 
cross-legged, or with one's feet hanging out. The open side 
is sometimes turned to the tail of the mule, and the rider can 
not see where the animal is going. The kerjava may be sus- 
pended over a precipice, on the edge of which the feet of the 
mule have but dangerous hold ; or by sudden collision with an- 
other mule — and this often happens. — one kerjava is thrown 
over the mule's back upon the other, and both fall heavily to 
the ground. Sometimes kerjavas have no roof, are simply 
strong panniers of wood, in which the riders (there must be 
two, or, if one, then an equivalent weight will be required in 
the second kerjava) are doubled up, their heads and feet only 
being visible, the body lost to sight in the kerjava, amidst a 
substratum of pillows and carpets. Although but one mule 
bears the burden, those who ride in kerjavas are very prop- 
erly made to pay for two mules; and although two mules 
carry a takht-i-rawan, those who employ this, the superior 



126 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

form of carriage, pay for four mules. Tlie takht-i-rawan is 
used by great ladies of the Shah's court, by the aged and in- 
firm, and by the ladies of the foreign embassies. It is not a 
sedan-chair, because the bottom is usually quite flat, level with 
the shafts, and the occupant sits cross-legged, or lies down 
during the journey. But the shafts are like the four poles of 
a sedan-chair, and the tw^o mules are harnessed in them — one 
between the two poles in front, the other, with its eyes close 
to the body of the carriage, between the two hinder poles. 
The takht-i-rawan is a carriage built of wood, and placed 
upon a strong frame-work, of which the two long poles, form- 
ing the four shafts, are the principal parts. The sides are 
generally paneled, in order to obtain strength without weight, 
and the roof of thin boards is covered with coarse cotton or 
canvas to keep out rain. There is usually a small square of 
glass in the side doors to give light when these are closed. 
One can rarely find a takht-i-rawan when such a carriage is 
wanted ; they are usually built to order, and cost from six to 
ten pounds sterling. We were in a hurry to leave Resht, and 
not disposed to wait while a takht-i-rawan was being built. 
We were anxious to escape to the mountains, away from the 
deadly atmosphere, the feverish swamp in which the British 
consul at Resht is doomed to live. 

On the second and last morning of our stay in Resht, we 
sat in Mr. Churchill's room, the whole side of which was open 
to the garden, transacting business with muleteers and sellers 
of articles of every description. We had little trouble in 
agreeing with the charvodar for horses and mules. He was 
a man about middle age, whose hair and mustache, naturally 
dark, were made the color of a raven's wing with a dye com- 
pounded of indigo with khenna. Like all Persians, he was 
shaved across the j^oll, the side hair being led in a curl be- 
hind the ear. He wore a red turban, wound around a buff 
skull-cap ; his legs were bare to the knee, and his socks and 



CHARVODARS. 127 

sandal shoes bore marks of much travel. A green tunic of 
cotton left but little of his loose drawers of blue visible, and 
over all he wore a long garment of pale yellow, lined with 
red cotton, and bound about his waist with a scarlet sash. 
He was anxious to get back to Teheran, a distance from 
Resht of two hundred miles, and fortunately the day was not 
an unlucky one for setting out. It is of no use whatever to 
engage with Persian muleteers for commencing a journey on 
a day which they consider unlucky. They may fear to dis- 
please or disobey openly ; they may consent, but they will 
be certain to find some means of delay. Once off, all days 
are alike to the charvodar, except that day of the month Mo- 
hurrem on which the death of Houssein is celebrated. 

There is another rule which the charvodar always desires 
to establish. On the first day of a march, it takes a great 
deal of trouble and a strong will to get a caravan farther than 
two hours' ride, or ^ight miles, from the town. Time is not 
a costly consideration in Persia ; and as for space, the mean- 
est and poorest possess that great boon. It is better always 
to avoid Mondays and Fridays in arranging for a march. 

Fortunately, the day we selected was Thursday, and there 
was no objection. We paid half the price of the hire of the 
horses and mules, and the charvodar departed, to prepare 
for setting out in the afternoon. It is usual for consuls' 
wives and for people of such quality in the East to have the 
shops brought to them ; they lose a good deal, both in pocket 
and in amusement, by not visiting the bazaars, and certainly 
they have a more limited choice of goods. Persuaded not 
to visit the bazaar a second time, we had in this way to give 
audience to the "butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker," 
and to receive their slaves, loaded with goods, from which, 
assisted by Houssein, who, however, could not speak a word 
of any language but Persian, we made very satisfactory se- 
lections. 



128 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

At last every thing seemed ready, and the mules arrived, 
saddled and festooned with ropes, to be loaded for the first 
time. It is a work of great moment. Every thing must be 
nicely balanced ; so much on one side, and about an equal 
weight on the other of the high, heavy pack-saddle, which 
the mule wears day and night, and which for weeks together 
is never removed, except during the very few minutes when 
the rude process of groom.ing is performed at the end of a 
day's march. The charvodar, whose waist was now encircled, 
not only by a sash, but also by a thong of leather wound 
twice round his body, ending in about a foot of iron chain, 
eyed every box and package, and with skillful hands adjusted 
the loads. The iron chain dangling from his waist is the 
ordinary whip of the Persian muleteer. It was worn bright 
with handling and with cruel application to the legs of his 
animals. The gholams, who were to accompany us, were also 
provided with thongs and chains of the same sort. The char- 
vodar w^as engrossed with two of our trunks, which were ob- 
viously unequal in weight. He laid an iron bedstead, folded 
in very small compass, npon the lighter one, bound each of 
the trunks in coarse cloth, then placed stout cords of plaited 
camel's hair across the saddle of a mule, and, summoning as- 
sistance, had the two packages lifted simultaneously, one on 
one side and one on the other of the saddle. This is done 
with many an " Ul-lah " — an invocation without which mule- 
teers rarely engage in any signal effort. " Now, by the grace 
of God, let's do our best," is contained in a liberal translation 
of "UUah" when thus employed; and if there is a box to be 
lifted, or a fallen mule to be reset upon its legs, or when the 
tired animals are to be urged to a quicker walk, it is invaria- 
bly with an " Ul-lah " that the effort is called for. 

When the second mule was loaded, we see it is intended 
that he should lead the caravan. He is covered with bells, 
which are always ringing, and they are not the " drowsy 



HOUSSEIN MOUNTED. 129 

tinklings " which may " lull the distant fold ;" those upon his 
head, and a score more suspended round his shoulders — all 
these might be said to "tinkle;" but suspended from the 
saddle this animal carried two bells almost big enough for a 
steeple, the clangor of which is terrific. I object, and urge, 
in English so emphatic as to be comprehended by any Per- 
sian, that bags of fodder, to say nothing of camp-stools, and 
carpets, and half a dozen saucepans are enough ; but the 
charvodar will not leave the bells behind him. He assures 
me, with a pleasant smile, that " he," and " he," and " he," 
pointing to the other mules, like the bells ; that, in fact, they 
won't go without this perpetual ding-dong. Houssein, who, 
in spite of his melancholy appearance, is strongly recom- 
mended as a very good cook and chief servant, now made his 
appearance in full traveling costume. He was girt with a 
short, straight sword, and his long legs were incased in yel- 
low leather. He loads his mule with saddle-bags, and upon 
these places a large cushion made of his pillow and over- 
coats ; then, in the true Persian fashion, he throws himself 
on the neck of the mule, and struggles to the high seat, from 
which his legs dangle in a way that seems pleasing to Persian 
riders of his class. He had not forgotten brooms, which Mr. 
Churchill warned us were very requisite in traveling. It had 
been arranged that Houssein was to ride forward in advance 
of our arrival at a station, and look to the cleaning of our 
sleeping-place. 

When at last we set out fi'om Mr. Churchill's yard, our 
string of horses and mules carried beds and bedding, carpets, 
tables, folding seats, cooking utensils, and all the glass and 
crockery necessary for simple meals in a land where any pro- 
vision beyond an empty room and a pillow of straw is abso- 
lutely unattainable, and where the comforts of such a service 
of dragomans and tents as may be had on the deserts of 
Syria and Egypt have never been heard of. Twenty -four 



130 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

miles ill a clay of eight hours, or nine, with an hour for rest 
in the middle of the march, is the ordinary caravan rate of 
traveling ; and at this pace we passed out from the miserable 
town of Resht into the deliciously green forest which, for 
about forty miles, lies between Resht and the barren ground, 
rising ruggiedly toward the Elburz Mountains, Avhich we must 
cross by the Pass of Kharzan, on the way to Teheran. 

N^ear sunset, in a small opening in the forest, we approach- 
ed a building with not a soul in it, which looked like a brick- 
built barn that had lono; been deserted and had fallen into 
ruin. At either extremity there were the remains of a brick 
staircase, which led, by steps that by ruin had become very 
difficult, to a loft or apartment opening upon a wooden plat- 
form. Our servants informed us that this was a station, that 
there was none other for many miles, and that, in fact, this 
was to be our resting-place for the night. Both apartments 
had walls and floor of clay. There were window-frames, but 
they were broken, and the glass had fallen out. One room 
was full of brambles, collected for firing by some former oc- 
cupant, and in the other there were holes in the floor nearly 
large enough for a guest to fall through into the mule-shed 
beneath. Like the roof, the floor was of mud, dry, hard, and 
dusty, laid upon sticks and straw, which covered the rude 
cross-beams cut from the forest. It was more than half an 
hour's work to clear the better room of the brambles, to col- 
lect bricks from the ruins with which to stop the holes in the 
floor, to sweep the place thoroughly, to spread the floor with 
our Persian carpets, to All the empty window -frames with 
green boughs, and to set up our beds. A stream of water 
ran near, and a limitless supply of fire-wood was at hand ; nor 
could any one be more skillful than Houssein in making a 
stove of bricks. 

The crackling of our fire soon brought creatures around us, 
men and children in rags, who seempd to be drawn from the 



OUR CAMP-KITCHEX. 131 

very ground by the smell of mutton and chicken in the stew- 
pots. We sat on the wooden platform enjoying the first- 
fruits of the fire in a cup of tea; the horses and muh^s were 
feeding in a patch of luxurious grass ; and as the stillness in- 
creased at sunset, the forest seemed to grow into life with 
the noises of insects and animals. Our camp- kitchen upon 
the grass would have made an interesting picture. The 
grand form of Houssein stalked now and then before the 
flames. On one side stood an animated bundle of rags, who 
no doubt saw happy prospect of participation in the remains 
of the feast, from the fact that he was permitted to hold the 
cover of a stew-pot while our major-domo stirred the con- 
tents with a wooden spoon. I shouted for the kettle which 
occupied a corner of the fire, and other forms started up in 
willing service. Their joy was unbounded when we indulged 
a hopeful opinion that there would be pillau enough for ev- 
ery body to have some. But the flies in their thousands in- 
sisted also upon their share when the savory mess arrived on 
our platform. 

Xot " the worst inn's worst room " could present an ap- 
pearance of abject poverty so striking as the mud- walls, the 
broken roof and walls, and rough rafters of the I'oom into 
which we retired for the night. But our beds were excel- 
lent. The air was sweet, and the moonlight so bright that 
we could see all the rich colors of our Persian carpets upon 
the floor. There were no locks or fastenino;s on the door. 
Afterward we learned how rare it is to have a wooden door 
in a country where the craving for fuel is with many strong- 
er than the respect for property. We barricaded the en- 
trance with trunks, and slept for some hours during the first 
night of our ride through Persia. 



132 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Month Ramadan. — Mohammed's First Wife. — Ramadan in the Koran. 
— The Nocturnal Kalian. — Loading Up. — A Persian Landlord. — Persian 
Money : Tomans, Krans, and Shihees. — Counting Money. — Persian Mints. 
— Rich Provinces. — Kudem. — Chapar-khanah. — Bala-khanah. — Con- 
structed to Smoke. — Caravanserais. — Unfurnished Apartments. — Our 
Bell-mule.— A Traveled Khan.— The Safid-Rud.—Rustemabad.— Village 
of Rhudbar. — Parchenar. — Khan offers his Tree.— A Night in the Open. 
—Mistaken for a Thief.— "The Bells !"— Camels in the Path. 

It is the month Ramadan, the great Mohammedan fast. 
Our servants, as good Mussulmans, have to do all their eating 
and smoking between sunset and sunrise ; and, unfortunately 
for our repose, they do much talking at the same inconvenient 
time. In every great town throughout Persia a cannon is 
fired in the evening and morning, to signalize the moment 
when the fast ends and is to be resumed. 

Mohammed ordained that the month Ramadan should be 
thus held sacred, because it Avas then that he first conceived 
his prophetic mission. He had lately risen in the world, as 
other leaders of men have done, by an advantageous match. 
Mohammed, at first the servant, the manager of her caravans, 
became the husband of the rich widow of Mecca, Khadijah, a 
woman who appears throughout her life to have commanded 
his affection and respect. She was his elder in years, and 
Mohammed was forty when, in a cave beneath Mount Hara, 
he disclosed to Khadijah, w^ith all the nervous energy of his 
temperament, his visions, and, as he alleged, the promise of 
God that through his mouth should be poured out the laws 
of mankind. Khadijah was Mohammed's first convert. This 
occurred in Ramadan, and therefore it was written in the 



THE NOCTUBNAL KALIAN. 133 

Koran that " in the month of Ramadan shall ye fast, in which 
the Koran was sent down from heaven." All lawful enjoy- 
ments, including eating and drinking, may be taken during 
the night, "until ye can plainly distinguish a white thread 
from a black thread by the day- break; then keep the fast 
until night. These are the prescribed bounds of God."* 

Sleeping in the wood near Resht, I was awaked several times 
in the night by the ceaseless stream of talk going on beneath 
our resting-place; the intervals being audibly filled Avith the 
gurgling of the narghileh, or hookah, the " kalian," as the Per- 
sians call their social pipe, which is the inevitable accompani- 
ment of every long rest on the road, and of every hospitable 
reception or entertainment. Correctly speaking, this can only 
be called " narghileh " when the water-bowl is the shell of a 
cocoa-nut, for which I believe the Arabic word is " narghil." 
The Persians smoke but little, and no man seems to regard a 
pipe as entirely his own. On a march, a great prince receives 
his jeweled kalian on horseback ; and when the lips of his 
highness are satisfied, the tube passes to those of his follow^- 
ers and servants. Among the lowest classes of the people, a 
reed pipe, with an earthenware bowl, is commonly used in 
traveling, and this passes in like manner from hand to hand. 
The smoke is always and at all times co-operative. To pre- 
pare the kalian, the tobacco is damped and placed in the pipe 
. beneath a thick layer of live charcoal. 

For my own part, I prefer the smell of a wood fire such as 
that the odor of which easily found a way through the many 
holes in the walls and floor of our room, and awoke us with a 
pleasant sense that the sun would soon rise, and that a kettle 
was about to boil for the purposes of breakfast. In the morn- 
ing air, which in these Persian lowlands was somewhat too 
dewy, an hour passed quickly Avhile the horses and mules 

* Sale's "Al Koran," chap. ii. 



134 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAN. 

were beinsf causfht and loaded. Then from beside the ashes 
of our camp-fire arose a personage dressed in a long, blue 
robe of ragged and dirty cotton, who appeared to claim the 
rights of a landlord over the remains of the ruined shed in 
which, thanks to our purchases at Resht and our other pos- 
sessions, we had slept not uncomfortably. The landlords of 
Persian " chapar-khanahs," or post-houses, do not present a 
bill with a bow and a grimace, in the European method ; 
all their accounts are, the same with Mohammedans and witli 
Christians, discharged verbally. This one, after the invari- 
able manner of his kind in dealing with a European, lifted 
his joined hands to the sky and muttered something about 
"Allah" and the "sahib." Then he presented both palms 
laid together, hollowed large enough to hold five hundred 
krans. The order of payment is of the " what-you-please" 
character ; but whether you put five or ten silver pieces into 
those khenna-dyed hands, you will get no w^ord of thanks; 
the Persian language has no equivalent for " thank you." 
Such an expression could only be conveyed in Persian by 
words glorifying the giver. But in any case the action will 
be the same; the "landlord" will stare at the coins, exhibit 
them to the by-standers, and extend his joined palms again 
to the giver for any addition. 

The Persian money is not the least queer thing in the coun- 
try. Every body talks of " tomans," which are gold coins of 
the nominal value of ten krans. But the small remnant of 
this gold coinage is sold as a curiosity in the bazaars at twelve 
or thirteen krans for each gold toman. Virtually, there are 
but three coins in the currency of Persia : the silver kran, the 
half kran, or penabat, and the shihee. The value of the kran, 
which is of pure, unalloyed silver, is about equivalent to that 
of a franc. It is a small piece of metal, intended to be cir- 
cular, upon which the Shah's stamp may have fallen fully, or 
may have left but half an impression. Krans are often rag- 



PEESIAN MONEY. 135 

ged at the edges, as pieces of dongli would be if subjected to 
the same process, and every important town in Persia has a 
mint. The gold coinage has been exported, to pay for im- 
ports of foreign manufactures ; and it seems that the silver is 
following the same course, and that Persia is being drained 
of the precious metals. It is a hard morning's work to count 
a hundred pounds sterling in the silver currency of Persia. 
The labor is generally shunned by employers, and trusty serv- 
ants become skilled in the business. The method is always 
the same. The money-changer and the receiver sit upon the 
floor; the changer throws down from his hand the krans by 
fives, and both payer and payee keep in mind the number of 
tomans by repeating it all the while in an audible mutter. 
Thus, while the first ten krans are being poured out, they 
say " yek [one] yek — yek — yek ;" then, while the " ties " are 
mounting to twenty, they say " du [two] du — du — du," and 
so on. It is very rarely that such a servant as Houssein 
makes an error in counting. 

As to coining, that is carried on in all manner of ways. 
During our stay in Persia, the Shah had two Austrian offi- 
cials, who were engaged, to the disgust of the Persians of the 
court, in arranging for the issue of money. They had been 
a year in the country, and were so successfully thwarted that 
nothing had been accomplished by these detested Europeans. 
A clever khan, whose acquaintance we made in the capital, 
had a coining-machine sent from Paris at his own expense ; 
and with the aid of this he last year presented the Shah with 
some specimen coins, remarking at the same time upon the 
dilatoriness of the Austrians. The consequence was that he 
received orders to proceed with his manufacture; and now 
new krans and penabats are occasionally to be seen. But base 
money is becoming more and more common, I am told, in Per- 
sia. People who affect to know, and who arc certainly in a 
position to be well informed, declare that most of the bad 



136 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. 

money comes from the imperial mints ; and if, say, a master 
of a mint has a salary of a thousand tomans, and is able and 
willing, in order to retain his office, to give presents to the 
value of twenty thousand tomans — w^hich I am assured is the 
case with at least one of these officers — the fact would, to say 
the least, throw much suspicion upon his issue. 

There is a cojiper coinage, the shihee, of which twenty make 
a kran. But there are no shihees, there are only half-shihees ; 
and it seems to be the abiding and unvarying conviction of 
Persian servants that this coinage, which is for the most part 
stamped with the well-known Persian combination of the lion 
and sun, is not sufficiently valuable for Europeans to handle. 
The odd shihees in any purchase or any settlement of expend- 
iture are never forthcoming; the real value is much greater 
than the nominal worth, and perhaps Persian servants do not 
like to see the premium lost by unthrifty masters. Possibly 
this is the reason why they collect and sell them wholesale for 
their private advantage, at about twenty-five per cent, increase 
upon the nominal value of the coins. 

No other part of Persia is so fertile as the wooded borders 
of the Caspian Sea, through which we passed from Enzelli 
to the Elburz Mountains. Every need of a large population 
might be supplied from this marvelously prolific soil; the ex- 
port of silk would provide foreign produce in abundance; 
and the malarious fevers, from which nearly every one suf- 
fers, would disappear, if these low lands upon the coast were 
properly drained. The rivers are full of fish, including stur- 
geon and salmon. The field would produce tea, tobacco, and 
rice, while the forests, swarming with game, supply food for 
myriads of silk-worms. Silk is the chief article of commerce 
in this province of Ghilan, and both the quantity and value of 
ihe export are capable of great extension. But it is in har- 
mony with all other things in Persia, to find in this a rapid 
and serious decline. Mr. Churchill, the British consul at 



KUDEM. 137 

Resht, in an elaborate report upon the silk-trade, addressed to 
Lord Derby, has shown that within the brief space of seven 
years the value of the silk produced in the province of Ghilan 
has fallen from seven hundred thousand pounds to one hun- 
dred and four thousand pounds. 

Through the green and winding path of the forest, which 
would seem interminable but for the glimpses of the gray 
mountains we catch from time to time, and which we know 
we have to cross, we approached Kudem, the end of our 
second day's march. When we alighted in the door-way of 
the " chapar-khanah," one of the best post-houses in Persia, 
in front of the brick stairs leading to the " bala-khanah," the 
raised apartment we were to occupy, we insisted upon hav- 
ing the heavy pack-saddles removed from off the backs of 
our mules — an order which was regarded by the charvodar 
as the silly whim of ignorant eccentrics. Perhaps, as like 
other Eastern peoples, Persians do not lay aside their own 
clothes at night, they suppose their mules prefer to carry a 
high and heavy structure composed of wood, straw, carpet, 
and leather, on their backs through all the hours of repose. 
Our mules seemed to express their own opinion by enjoying 
a prolonged roll on the grass. For our own refreshment, the 
invariable chicken was soon boilins; in one of our travelinof 
stew-pots. I should have looked forward to the result with 
greater pleasure if I had not seen the chicken running about 
an hour before it was reduced to this condition. Our apart- 
ment, though not very clean, was large, and had a boarded 
floor. It was placed over the archway leading to the stable- 
yard, and the question of ventilation was easily settled by 
the existence of a large hole in the floor, which, after the 
manner of ice-men in the parks, we thought it desirable to 
mark with a flag of white paper as decidedly " dangerous." 

The chapar-khanah of Kudem is, I think, the best in Per- 
sia, but in outward form it resembles the usual construction. 



138 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAJf. 

The chapar-khanah is always inclosed with a wall built of 
mud -bricks, brown, sun-baked, and friable, plastered over 
with a coarse cement of mud mixed with broken straw. The 
entrance archway is secured by a strong gate. In the cen- 
tre is a quadrangular yard for horses and mules, and round 
three sides are flat-roofed sheds, one side of which is formed 
by the outer wall. The sheds are for the animals and their 
drivers, who all sleep together in the winter months. On 
the fourth side, near the gate, there are generally two or 
three windowless and doorless sheds, plastered inside with 
mud, having a hole in one corner for a fire-place, which in- 
variably smokes. But perhaps the more common arrange- 
ment is for these places to have a hole somewhere in the roof, 
and then the fire can be lighted on any part of the floor. In 
this way the smoke is blinding; but if a Persian has not his 
eyes and mouth full of smoke, he seems not to think he is 
getting fully the worth of his fire - w^ood, which is always 
costly. A smoky chimney appears to be not at all unpopular 
in a country where no necessary of life is so dear as fuel. 
These two or three holes or hovels are used by native travel- 
ers, and it was in one of these places that our servants pre- 
pared our food. 

We very rarely met with a chapar-khanah which had not 
a bala-khanah. The latter word would seem to have some 
philological connection with " balcony," because it is used to 
denote any apartment above the ground-floor; and the most 
distinctive feature of a Persian apartment thus elevated is 
the platform w^hich the occupant enjoys upon the flat roof of 
the lower buildings. Inside the quadrangle, near the door- 
way, there are, as a rule, two ways to the bala-khanah ; high 
steps in the stable wall, by which one climbs to the roof and 
the level of the bala-khanah. This single room, the sole erec- 
tion above the flat roof of the parallelogram-shaped stables, 
is generally about eight feet square, built, like nil the rest, of 



PKECAUTIONS AGAINST COLD. 139 

mud -bricks and covered with mud - cement. The rafters of 
the roof are usually festooned with cobwebs; the walls are 
grimy with issues from the lire -place, which is rudely con- 
structed to smoke. Indeed, we often found the flue purpose- 
ly stopped with clay and stones which had been placed there 
by thrifty Persians w^ho, having lighted a fire of wood on a 
winter's evening, had stopped the chimney, in their desire for 
economy of heat. As a rule, there are two or three door- 
ways without doors, and sometimes a hole or two intended 
for w^indows. If the wood fire smokes, one is glad to have 
no door until tlie charred w^ood is flung outside, and the pure 
wind of evening has blown the pungent odor from the place. 

Upon the high table-land extending from Teheran beyond 
Shiraz, the nights are intensely cold from December to April, 
and a fire is necessary in these vile lodgings. When, as is 
the rule, there is no door, the traveler nails up a horse-cloth, 
a " nummud," as tlic Persians call their serviceable felts of 
pressed camel's hair, or, better still, the canvas door of a mili- 
tary tent; and when the same work has been performed at 
the other doors, and about the holes which serve as windows, 
and the breeze, to which the bala-khanah is pre-eminently ex- 
posed, is thus partially blocked out, the thermometer may 
possibly, in the warmest hours of a January night, creep as 
high as zero. In the summer and autumn, in such heat as 
that in which we rode from Resht to Teheran, there are 
worse discomforts than a freezing temperature. The bala- 
khanah, which in winter is free from vermin, then swarms 
with the most troublesome of insects. 

In the caravanserais, of which there is generally one near to 
every chapar-khanah, the traveler has no trouble whatever 
about windows, because there are none. Around the large 
horse-yard there are a number of dark arches, opening upon 
a brick terrace, raised about three feet above the yard. Gen- 
erally, the arches have a circular hole in the roof for the out- 



140 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN. 

let of the smoke ; but sometimes there is a flue. The end of 
the arch next the yard is filled with rough masonry, a square 
door-way being left, in which, if one wishes for privacy — or 
in winter for greater warmth than that of a north wind ca- 
reering over miles of snow — there must be nailed some cov- 
ering from the traveler's baggage. But whether in chapar- 
khanah or caravanserai, his baggage must include every thing, 
and for security all must be placed wdth him or his servants, 
in their respective arches of the caravanserai, upon the dusty 
floor of the bala-khanah, or in one of the mud caverns near 
the gate, which may during the previous night have been 
used as a stable for mules. Every morning and evening an 
hour is spent in packing and unpacking, in loading and un- 
loading. On arriving, the apartment is bare, littered with 
the rubbish of the last occupier, and, on going out, there is 
little danger of forgetting any part of one's baggage. It is 
only necessary to see that the place is stripped of every 
thing; that nothing useful remains behind; there will be no 
risk of taking aught that does not belong to the traveler. 

We left Kudem in the morning, when the grass was wet 
with dew, and the unrisen sun showed the outline of the 
mountains in a clear, gray light. When the forest was at its 
stillest hour, our little caravan moved on toward liustema- 
bad, but not noiselessly. In spite of our protests, the first 
horse carried a whole peal of bells ; bells on his neck and 
bells on his hind quarters, bells which I had heard tinkling in 
some distant pasture during the night, and that rang in our 
ears all the day long. These were gentle in their tones, com- 
pared with the two "Big Bens," each nine inches high and 
four w^ide at the mouth, which I had argued against at Resht 
to no purpose, and which were still carried by one of our 
baggage - mules. At times w^e urged our horses onward to 
escape from the sonorous stroke of these dreadful bells; but 
Tydides, as we named the bell- mule, was ever "rushing to 



A. TKAVELED KHAN. 141 

the war." His step was fast, and the projecting trunks with 
which he was loaded were terrible when he charged upon us. 
Subject to his load, he was, to a great extent, the master of 
his own actions; the course was completely open to him. 
At about two feet distant from each of his sides the sharp 
iron-bound angle of a wooden trunk projected. An ancient 
Briton with scythes attached to the wheels of his chariot 
could hardly have been a more dreadful neighbor. When- 
ever the clang of his bells was heard close behind, we looked 
to our legs with fond solicitude, and hurried away. Tydides 
was utterly careless of the wounds he inflicted upon us with 
our own trunks for his weapons of war. 

In traveling " caravan," that is, at walking pace, in the long 
hours of the day's journey, and especially in the presence of 
beautiful scenery, one often becomes listless and inattentive — 
an attitude which certainly will bring into painful operation 
the too dangerous proclivities of caravan mules and horses. 
If the road is inclosed, these animals will probably turn ev- 
ery corner with an eye to saving distance, rather than of re- 
gard for the full space required for the rider's legs ; and when 
the path is on one side precipitous, if his legs are not forced 
against the rocky side of the j)ath, he will be taken to the ex- 
treme outside edge, on which a stumble or a tiny land -slip 
would probably prove fatal. When we emerged from the 
forest, our path began to be of the latter sort — a track made 
with no regard for level, but simply up and down the stony 
ledges, over the spurs of hills which had been broken by the 
course of the yellow river, the Safid-Rud, the windings of 
which we had now to follow for about fifty miles. 

We were riding in the outskirts of the forest, when a Per- 
sian, whose dress and saddle-cloth proclaimed him to be a 
man of rank, overtook us. He wore the usual high black hat, 
with a peak strapped round it upon the side from which the 
rays of the morning sun were already hot, a coat of light cot- 



142 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. 

ton, the skirt thickly gathered at the waist; very loose trou- 
sers of black satin, and high riding -boots rising above the 
knee. He had evidently learned all that was to be known 
about us at Kudem, and surprised me with " Good-morning, 
sare." He Avas a handsome man, but there was something 
artificial in his face. The ambition in Persia to have a black 
or red beard is overmastering. For the former color the 
Persians mix indigo with khenna, and it was with this mixt- 
ure that his hair and beard were dyed a blue-black. Years 
ago, he said, he had -been attached to the Persian Legation in 
London, and even now he told us he liked to be "very En- 
glishman."'' The ideas of the khan (I will not further identify 
him) on the subject of baggage appeared to be enviably sim- 
ple. His servant carried saddle-bags which contained a brass 
samovar (the Kussian kettle), a couple of small carj^ets, a 
well-stuffed pillow, two or three coats, and a few pomegran- 
ates. He was traveling " chapar," joosting, upon his own 
horse, and could proceed at trot or gallop. I had reason to 
know all this in the course of a twelve days' journey, in 
which the khan kindly insisted on keeping company with our 
caravan, partly, as he said, because in Persia nobody travels 
alone if he can help it; partly, I think, because he wished to 
be well spoken of to the English minister and the Persian 
Government in Teheran by an Englishman ; and not a little 
from a kindly, genuine desire to be of service to us. 

The exquisite scenery through which we Avere passing 
seemed to give him no special pleasure. The sun had risen 
gloriously above the mountain peaks, varying in height from 
ten to fifteen thousand feet. The bare sides of the Elburz 
chain showed almost every known tint of color. The bright 
reds and greens of these mountains can mean nothing less 
than that they are metalliferous to enormous richness. The 
yellow stream of the Safid-Rud, stretching sometimes over a 
bed a quarter of a mile in Avidth, ran between the mountains 



RUSTEMABAD. 143 

and our path, which was for miles overhung with trees. In 
the woody hollows we sometimes forded rushing streams 
which covered the knees of our mules, then mounted a hill, 
to dip again into the next watery hollow, where beside the 
stream grass grew deliciously green ; and our active mule- 
teers, careful in nothing so much as to keep their feet mod- 
erately dry, walked, sure-footed as goats, across a prostrate 
tree, which in every difficult case formed the only bridge. 

The sun was intensely hot when we reached Rustemabad, 
at two o'clock, having passed through a mud -built village 
which lent its name to the station. The buildings of the vil- 
lage were of the simplest order ; the material, the river-mud 
mixed with chopped straw ; the flat roofs of the same mate- 
rial laid upon what in England we should call bavin-wood, 
which rested on rafters placed upon the mud-walls. A round 
hole here and there in the mud roof served for a chimney. 
The huts were so close together that there was not left a 
roadway of more than three yards in the bazaar, where grapes, 
pomegranates, melons, green figs, fowls, and ropes of camel's 
hair were exposed for sale. 

As usual, a servant had gone forward to prepare and fur- 
nish the room which we were to occupy, but the nature of the 
floor defied the efforts of any broom to remove the dust. The 
apartment had six windows and three doors. In the former, 
half the glass was gone, and the doors had never seen a lock. 
In fact, locks are not used in Persia. The Persians have not 
as yet advanced further than bolts and padlocks of the rudest 
manufacture. 

We had just succeeded in getting our beds set up, our car- 
pets spread, and tea made, when we received a visit of cere- 
mony from the khan, who was immensely amused at my elab- 
orately made bed, with sheets and counterpane in the good 
English fashion, and, on my returning his visit, contrasted 
his simple carpet and pillow with my complicated arrange- 



144 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

ments. He had courteously given up to us the only room 
which had doors. In his resting-place there had been win- 
dows, but there were now only the wide openings. However, 
the samovar was boiling, and we had a glass of tea in the 
Persian manner — that is, very weak, without milk, and with 
an almost sickening quantity of sugar. Ils'ext morning, on 
resuming our journey, we passed through groves of olives, 
quite unfenced, the trees growing in rich and well- watered 
oases by the river's side, through the mud village of Rhud- 
bar, wealthy in splendid fruits. We bought a delicious 
melon for the value of twopence English, and grapes more 
luscious than those of Italy or Spain for less than a half-penny 
a pound. ISTear the end of the day's march, we crossed the 
river by a bridge and arrived at Manjil, another mud-built 
village. We had risen above the level of universal richness 
which belongs only to the provinces of Persia which border 
the Caspian Sea. Now our road lay through an arid coun- 
try, which w^as only green near the river, or where artificial 
irrigation made an oasis. 

We left Manjil on the 18th of October, about daylight, and 
at nine o'clock forded the river three times, which was high 
enough to be quite inconvenient ; and as we approached 
Parchenar, the resting-place for the night, we anticipated bad 
things of that station, on seeing that there was nothing above 
the ground-floor level of the buildings. The inclosure was, as 
usual, occupied by mules, and littered with dirty straw. A 
tall old Persian, dressed in the blue-cotton robe and trousers 
common to the peasantry and working-classes of the country, 
showed us a hole in the wall, leading, upon the same level as 
the yard, into what was a stable or a dwelling room, but what 
in another position every one would call a dungeon : a stone- 
built room, with no window of any sort, dark but for a fire 
of wood, which was burning unconfined on the centre of the 
floor — a room of which the natural illumination came only 



THE KHAN OFFERS HIS TEEE. 145 

from a small hole in the roof, through which some of the 
smoke was finding exit, and the door-way, which was as open 
to the mules or dogs in the yard as to ourselves. After ma- 
ture deliberation, we preferred to encamp in the ojDen air. 

At the gate of this wretched chapar-khanah we met the 
khan, who pointed to a soHtary tree, in the shade of which 
he had already spread his carpets. He offered us his "tree" 
with ceremonious courtesy, if we preferred to pass the night 
beneath its branches ; but we chose a place under the wall of 
the post-house, from which we could see across the valley. 
We sent Ali, a lanky lad whom we had engaged upon the 
road, to the river to cut some of the tall green rushes, with 
which we strewed the ground before we laid down our car- 
pets. The melancholy Houssein built a fire-place of stones 
from a ruined wall with all the skill of a Count Rumford ; we 
had dined before the light of day departed, and presently 
our servants appeared bringing every article of our baggage, 
which they placed upon our encampment. In vain I tried to 
make them understand that these things would be safer with 
them inside the walls ; they protested, for a reason I have 
never yet discovered, that the baggage would be more secure 
at our side. 

We were soon left alone with the starry night, one lying 
in a well-made bed, and one rolled in a rug on the carpets. 
There were three fii'es burning in the valley, two marking the 
resting-place of long strings of camels laden with goods for 
Teheran, and the third that of our muleteers, one of whom 
disturbed our first attempt to sleep with a caution against 
wandering thieves. This made us regard with increased sus- 
picion the motions of two men, who half an hour afterward 
glided noiselessly, as all Persians walk, round the wall of the 
chapar-khanah, and stood talking together near to our solitary 
resting-place. 

The night was beautiful; not a cloud nor the slightest mist 

7 



146 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

obscured the stars, or concealed any part of the hard, jagged 
outline of the mountains, from behind which the moon, a little 
less than full, rose about nine o'clock, throwing a flood of sil- 
very light upon the two men, whose position, one on each side 
of us, about thirty yards distant, gave us uneasiness, and pre- 
vented sleep. At last they lay down upon the ground, intend- 
ing, as it seemed very possible, to wait until we fell asleep be- 
fore they approached our baggage. We agreed to watch 
these disquieting visitors in spells of two hours each ; but I 
had scarcely entered upon the second watch at half an hour 
after midnight, when our chief servant appeared and suggest- 
ed that, as the next day's journey included the very severe 
work of crossing the Elburz Mountains by the Kharzan Pass, 
it would be well for the horses and ourselves, if we were will- 
ing, to start at once, so as to get to the top before sunrise. 
We were soon in our saddles, when it turned out that one of 
the suspected thieves, who lay like a log near us, was none 
other than the landlord of the miserable place in which wo 
had refused to lodge. He had come out to guard us during 
the night : and, had we but known who he was, we need not 
have been sleepless. 

. " The bells !" I said, with something of the horror which 
Mr. Irving expresses in his painful representation of Mathias, 
when I heard the too well-known clangor of our baggage- 
mule. It was weird work, fording the river, and pushing our 
way through the tall rushes of the valley, in the morning 
moonlight ; but when we saw the terrible steeps up which the 
mules and horses had to climb, we were very glad we had not 
slept till sunrise. For hours we mounted, until we had gained 
an elevation of about seven thousand feet. The air was keen 
and cold, the stony path narrow, and in places dangerous. 
Just at the worst part of the ascent, an hour before day- 
break, we heard the sound of other bells, and in the moonlight 

saw the first of a long line of loaded camels coming down the 



CAMELS IN THE PATH. 147 

pass. There were, in all, nearly a hundred divided into strings 
of about twenty, fastened to a rope, which passed from the 
nose of one to the nose of another. To have met the camels 
in the narrow path would be perilous, and we stood aside, on 
the widest ledge at hand, to let them pass. But they moved 
very slowly ; ' and meanwhile mules, horses, and camels en 
route for Teheran collected behind us, and some of the more 
unruly mules forced their loads among us, making great con- 
fusion. Such moments would be unbearable if one thouo^ht 
of nothing but the possible danger of the position. But there 
is so much kicking and cuffing, and active work of self -pro- 
tection to be done, one's legs are so exposed to injury, and 
form such an engrossing embarrassment, that one has no time 
to think of the precipice, and of the death which a sudden 
push from a stumbling mule or camel might, or rather must, 
cause. 



148 THKOUGH PEKSIA BY CAEAVAN. 



CHAPTER X. 

How Hills are Made. — Khavzan. — Mazara. — A Persian Village. — John 
Milton and Casbeen. — The Plain of Kasveen. — The Mirage. — Gardens of 
Kasveen. — Dervishes. — Decay of Kasveen. — A Persian Town. — Women 
of Kasveen. — Persian Costumes. — "Allahu Akbar." — Mosque of Kasveen. 
— Telegram from Teheran. — Visit to the Khan. — His Love AiFairs, — 
Lost in Kasveen. — Abdulabad. — An Alarm and an Arrival, — " Gosro- 
zink." — ^Native Plows. — On to Karij. — Lodged in the Shah's Palace. — 
The Impeiial Saloon. — An Imperial Bedroom. — Approach to Teheran. — 
Population of the Capital. — The Kasveen Gate. — Mud Houses and Walls. 
— The Imperial Theatre. — Entrance to the "Arg." — Neglect of Public 
Works. — British Legation. — Mirza Houssein Khan. — Teheran Bazaar. — 
Caravanserai Ameer. 

They say in the Herzegovina that when the Creator had 
made the world he passed over it strewing the smooth sur- 
face with mountains and hills, but that over that country he 
let fall a great part of his burden. In this way they account 
for its peculiarly unlevel surface. And as the rising sun 
glowed upon the summits of the lower mountains of the El- 
burz chain, upon which we looked down shortly after our en- 
counter with the camels, the whole land seemed to be covered 
with hill-tops. The khan had ridden on to Kharzan to a car- 
avanserai near the end of the pass, and was standing in the 
door-way when we rode up, shivering with cold. He pointed 
cheerfully to his servant, one Syed Ali, who was blowing the 
charcoal in his master's samovar to a white heat. Our serv- 
ants were provided with cold fowl, boiled eggs, bread, and 
grapes and wine. We had a pleasant bivouac in this mount- 
ain station, and soon forgot the sleepless night at Parchenar. 
Two hours afterward, we had descended about fifteen hun- 
dred feet, and arrived at the village of Mazara. The post- 



MAZAEA. 149 

house, like the village, was built of mud. We mounted by a 
ladder, with rnugs terribly wide apart, on to the flat roof of 
the ground -floor, and there found a little room with two 
wooden doors, which also served as windows. Inside, there 
lay our bright carpets, and upon them a tray covered with 
pomegranates, a present from the khan, which we acknowl- 
edged with the gift of a melon. The sun was intensely hot, 
and the advantages of mud construction in point of coolness 
were very perceptible. We all slept through the middle 
hours of the day; and toward evening, when I came out upon 
the roof, activity had been resumed. I had to avoid stepping 
down the chimneys, which, however, were smoking remind- 
fully and pungently. Below in the yard there were dancers 
keeping slow time to a monotonous tom-tom. I fancy they 
had an eye to the remains of our dinner, which they after- 
ward enjoyed. The neighboring roofs were for the most 
part covered wdth a layer of horse and cow dung, spread out 
to dry. When dried, it is mixed with clay, and forms the 
fuel of the village. On some roofs the manufacture of desic- 
cated dung and clay was being carried on. Close by the vil- 
lage a piece of ground had been trodden hard by use as a 
threshing-floor. There were two small bullocks and two 
large men at work in this way. The beasts were dragging 
round and round, over the broken straw, a wooden sledge, in 
which were set two circular harrows, also of wood, which 
revolved simply by being drawn over the straw. They had 
trodden and dragged until none of the straw was more than 
two inches in length. The oxen and the men were knee-deejD 
in it, and beneath the broken straw lay the golden grain. The 
tilled land surrounding the village looked but a patch upon 
the vast plain stretched out before us. The cultivated soil 
was naturally no better than much of that which was waste, 
but it was watered, and irrigation brings forth rich crops of 
corn and fruit. 



150 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAX. 

Mazara, lying under the Elburz Mountains, upon the edge 
of a sharp slope, is a fair specimen of a Persian village. The 
earth is brown, the houses are brown, and crumbling into the 
dust of the plain, from the mud of which they have been 
made. If human beings were w^ont to burrow in the earth, 
their habitations would, I suppose, look from a distance very 
mucli like the mud-built villages of Persia. There is no street, 
no order in the arrangement of the huts, no j)rovision what- 
ever for drainage. The houses are set together anyhow; 
sometimes with space enough between for a loaded mule to 
pass, but rarely more, though the plain is so vast and barren. 
The miserable kennel of dried mud in which we rested was 
the only elevation, and its raised position was the cause of 
one of us having a fall which might have had a very serious 
result. The roof outside our sleeping-place was very infirm, 
and my shadow concealed a hole jagged with broken sticks 
which lay beneath the clay. In the early morning, when we 
were preparing to start, my wife stepped through this hole, 
and to a considerable extent disappeared. It was most fort- 
unate that she was not badly hurt. 

Our path lay directly to Kasveen, or Casbeen, formerly one 
of the chief towns of Persia, a city which was famous in Mil- 
ton's day, for the author of " Paradise Lost " wrote — 

" Or Bactrian Sophi, from the horns 
Of Turkish crescent, leaves all waste beyond 
The realm of Aladule, in his retreat 
To Tam-is or Casbeen." 

We rode to Casbeen, or Kasveen, over the nearly flat plain 
which stretches far beyond Teheran, and of which the aver- 
age level is nearly four thousand feet above the sea. It is in- 
closed by mountains and hills, and in some places is not more 
than fifteen or twenty miles wide. From Mazara to Kasveen 
the unbroken soil appears to be naturally fertile, but it is 
waste for want of water, which might so easily be stored in 



THE MIRAGE. 151 

the hills. Where water is artificially provided, the method is 
very curious. From a spring found by digging upon raised 
ground, a tunnel is made until the surface is reached, the 
course of the tunnel being marked by shafts (" k'nats " these 
holes are called), the openings of which upon the plain are 
embanked with the earth removed by the excavation. 

The illusion of the mirage, which is nowhere more often 
seen than in Persia, is well known. The mist of the morn- 
ing, hovering upon the plain, assumes the appearance of wa- 
ter. Near Kasveen, the mirage was very remarkable. The 
cattle in the distance seemed to be drinking upon the edge of 
still waters, and the posts of the Indo-European Telegraph to 
be standing in a shallow lagoon. The deception is as " old 
as the hills." It has been observed in all ages. In one of the 
odes of Hafiz, the great poet of Persia, who has been dead 
nearly five hundred years, it is said of this natural illusion, 

" The fountain-liead is far off in the desolate wilderness ; 
Beware, lest the demon deceive thee with the mirage." 

For hours we seemed to be riding toward water which we 
knew did not exist. The mirage floated deceptively before 
us, and when at last it cleared off, there was another illusion. 
The trees in the gardens of Kasveen, which were yet a dozen 
miles distant, seemed to be scarcely more than three or four 
miles from us. 

At last we reached these gardens, w^hich are for the most 
part vineyards ; and in the way of eating there can be few 
greater pleasures than to devour the grapes of Kasveen on 
a hot day as one would currants in England. They are the 
small stoneless grapes, which, when dried, are sold as " Sul- 
tana" raisins. But Kasveen is a half-ruined, famine-stricken 
dust-heap. During the famine of 1870-71 the poor of Kas- 
veen died by hundreds. As we rode through the bazaar on 
our way to the post-house, we saw what it might cost to have 



152 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

a blind horse in Persia. Every now and then there was a 
deep square hole, open and unguarded, in the centre of the 
street, for cleansing the water- course which runs beneath. 
Near the entrance to the mud- built chapar-khanah, there 
were two dervishes groveling in the dust and screaming for 
alms. One, a strongly built man, nearly naked, was hoarse 
and half stupefied with his shouts, which, though few re- 
garded, none mocked or laughed at. The other, an old man, 
was more methodical. In a fanatical burst, he now and then 
threw out "Ali! Ali !" nothing more being needed, espe- 
cially in Ramadan, to show his devotion to Ali, the great son- 
in-law of Mohammed. The dervishes of Persia are a privi- 
leged institution. They are not a caste, for I believe any 
one is free to take up the profession of religious mendicancy 
to which they seem devoted. The madder their actions, the 
more respect they appear to gain. Nobody "chaffs" a der- 
vish, and in none do his eccentricities provoke ridicule. 

When, after passing through many by-paths and crooked 
ways, w^e reached th6 chapar-khanah, our mules rushed to the 
mangers, and we mounted the roof of the stables by steps, of 
which some were nearly two feet high, to the bala-khanah. 
Kasveen is still regarded as a town of much importance, 
where a traveler might expect to find accommodation for 
man and beast; yet our servants had to build a stove of 
bricks on the roof for cooking our dinner, which consisted 
of chicken -broth, followed by the stewed chicken, with rice 
and sweetmeats. Kasveen suffered horribly in the recent 
famine, and this may account for some of the ruin which sur- 
rounded us. But the decay of Kasveen is of long standing, 
and will not, apparently, be arrested by the absence of fanaine. 
There are miles and miles of ruined mud-walls in and about 
the town. At all times, and under any circumstances, a Per- 
sian town has a desolate appearance. Even in a town as 
large as Kasveen, with twenty or thirty thousand inhabitants. 



WOMEN OF KASVEEN. 153 

there are not a dozen houses with a second story, and not a 
single private house with a window opening upon the street. 
In Turkey, the windows of the harem — the women's part of 
the house — ^are, it is true, jealously latticed, and the lattice has 
sometimes a pretty appearance from the street; but one can 
not see an inch into the '* anderoon," or harem, of a Persian 
house. The streets, except in the bazaars, are bounded by 
mud- walls, with no opening or variation except the door, 
which is very rarely unfastened. 

We were standing on the roof of the chapar-khauah, look- 
ing down into the dusty street, when a number of women re- 
turning from a mosque passed beneath, chattering and laugh- 
ing. They lifted tlieir heads to look at us, but not an eye 
was visible ; and though they were probably only neighbors, 
and certainly belonged to different houses and families, there 
Avas as precise similarity in their coloring — the indigo chud- 
der and trousers and the white veil — as if they had worn the 
uniform of one regiment. The indoor costume of Persian 
women of the higher class appears indelicate to Europeans. 
The chudder and trousers are the invariable walking cos- 
tume. Indoors the dress of a Persian lady is more like that 
of a ballet -girl, except that the Persian lady's legs are not 
covered, and that her bodice makes even less pretension to 
be a coverin^c than that of a danseuse of these decolletees 
days. In the anderoons of Persian royalty, my wife was re- 
ceived by princesses thus attired, or rather unattired, the 
high fashion being for the short skirts to stand out in the 
most approved manner of the ballet. 

I have often thought it would make the canal scenes of 
Venice far more beautiful if the gondolas were not so invari- 
ably painted with sombre black, a survival, I believe, of the 
stern equality of the Pepublican epoch. And to see the Per- 
sian women stumbling slipshod or riding over the miserable 
roads, all disguised in the same dismal covering — a dress far 



154 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

more ugly than was ever worn by nun or Sister of Mercy — 
is to pity the wearers of a costume which custom and the 
rule of the Koran have made acceptable. In Turkey, again, 
the women are veiled, but their dress is of many colors ; in 
Persia, no part of their person, not an eye, is visible, and their 
outdoor costume has this painful and sombre uniformity. 

At sunset, as usual, the voices of the moollahs chanting 
the "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) sounded from all quar- 
ters of the town of Kasveen; highest of all, .from a little 
building something like a Swiss chalet placed over the arch- 
way of the court-yard of the principal mosque. Ignorant of 
the fact that Europeans never visit the Persian mosques, and 
with no knowledge of the great danger of the excursion, we 
set out to see this royal mosque, the only interesting build- 
ing in Kasveen. We passed through a i^art of the bazaar, 
where, as in all towns in Persia, men may be seen ginning 
cotton with a bow, ignorant of the European inventions, and 
where others were laboriously embossing writing-paper by 
rubbing the rough sheet with polished wood. Our visit to 
the mosque attracted much attention, but we met with no 
opposition. We were followed by a crowd ; but this was not 
unusual, and no one made any remonstrance. The building 
has no architectural merit, and is curious only for the pleas- 
ing effect produced with glazed bricks of different colors. 
Like most of the Persian mosques, this praying-place is en- 
tirely open. The high, pointed arch of the centre, beneath 
which is the chief or grand pavilion, has a beading of bright 
blue. There are panels set with highly glazed tiles; the 
ground of primrose yellow, on which there are flowers in red 
and blue. The effect is very pleasing, and might be much 
more so with better workmanship and a finer style of con- 
struction. 

At Kasveen, there is a station of the Indo-European Tele- 
graph Company; and, on our return to the post-house, we 



VISIT TO THE KHA:^^. 155 

found the local inspector, an Italian, with a telegram in his 
hand — an invitation to us from the English minister in Tehe- 
ran to make the Legation our home during our stay in the 
capital. 

I had forwarded to Mr. Thomson a letter of introduction, 
of which this telegram contained an acknowledgment. We 
should gladly have accepted the minister's very kind offer 
of hospitality, had we remained under the impression, which 
w^e had on leaving England, that it was a matter of necessity; 
that there was no other place in which we could find suitable 
lodging. But we had learned at Baku from Count Thun, 
the brother-in-law of the Austrian envoy, and at Resht from 
Mr. Churchill, that there was a hotel in Teheran, kept by a 
Frenchman who had been "chef" to the Shah; and, hearing 
this, we did not feel disposed to intrude upon the British 
minister. We at once telegraphed our thanks to Mr. Thom- 
son from Kasveen, and expressed our intention of staying at 
M. Prevot's hotel. 

The khan, our faithful traveling companion, had taken up 
his quarters at the caravanserai, where I found him lodged 
after the manner of his country. About the entrance, on the 
brick ledges of the wide gate-way, muleteers lay sleeping in 
every imaginable posture; and inside, the same might be said 
of their mules, among which I recognized our own animals. 
Surrounding this yard was the usual brick parapet, about 
four feet high and as many broad, by which the human in- 
habitants of the caravanserai reached their apartments, which 
were simply deep niches, closed on the outside with jDaneled 
wood, in which there was a door, and a sliding shutter for 
a window. The khan, with his shutter raised and his door 
open, sat cross-legged on his traveling carpet at the mouth 
of his arch, of which both floor and ceiling were of plain, 
imconcealed brick-work. It was very curious to see a man 
whose manners evinced in some respects great refinement. 



156 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

lodged, Avith apparently perfect contentment, in a dark arch 
looking upon a stable -yard. Beside him lay three or four 
melons, and far in the background two live fowls, with their 
leo-s tied too-ether : this was his larder. 

The ritual or etiquette which regulates, in Persia, the mak- 
ing, and the exchange, and the duration of visits, as well as 
of presents, is very severe. The anxiety of the khan that I 
should pay him a visit in the caravanserai was quite touch- 
ing. He was evidently fearful that his reputation would suf- 
fer in the eyes of the Kasveen people, if, after we had trav- 
eled together to the town, and had been accompanied by him 
to the chapar-khanah, I allowed the day of arrival to pass 
without making personal inquiries concerning his health and 
comfort. And I was glad to please him in so small a matter, 
for he had been untiring in his attentions to us upon the 
road. While I sat with the khan upon his carpet in the Kas- 
veen caravanserai, he told me that he had a princess for a 
wife in Teheran. He had once, he said, hoped to have been 
married to an Englishwoman. At the Legation in London 
there w^as, he went on to tell me, a servant-girl, " Emily," 
whom he wished to marry. She was "very beauty," "very 
beauty," and he confessed to having made her an offer; but 
it appeared, from the sequel of this story of unrequited affec- 
tion, that " Emily," on learning that in Persia men had more 
than one wife, and that women never walked in the streets 
with their faces exposed to view, would not listen to the 
khan's proposals. 

The great Mohammedan fast is not the best time for trav- 
eling. Servants and muleteers can obtain priestly permission 
to eat while upon the journey ; but not a few of them are fa- 
natics, and prefer to keep the fast. The consequence is that 
they are ill-tempered and languid all day, ravenous toward 
evening ; and the traveler may as well whistle to the wind as 
endeavor to obtain their attention at the moment when, at 



ABDULABAD. 157 

sunset, feeding is lawful. Till sunrise, their license is un- 
checked ; they eat, drink, smoke, and, finally, are found asleep 
when their employer wishes to be on the road. It was so in 
the morning upon which we quitted Kasveen, and, leaving the 
baggage to be packed by the sleepy gholams and servants, ^ve 
set of£ quite alone two hours before sunrise, thinking that the 
high path to Teheran would be perfectly clear. But we were 
soon lost among the j'uins of Kasveen, with no living thing 
at hand except one or two howling dogs, Avhich stalked 
mournfully over the ruined mud-walls and broken archways 
of the decayed and decaying town. Soon, however, the ris- 
ing sun revealed the posts of the Teheran telegraph, and these 
led us to the road, where in a short time we heard the jin- 
gling bells of our baggage - train. Wo met with no shade 
whatever during the whole day's ride until we arrived at the 
solitary post-house of Abdulabad ; and we had not been there 
an hour before one of our servants rushed into the room, ex- 
claiming, " luglees Sahib ! Teheran !" He was quickly fol- 
lowed by an Englishman, who reminded me at once of the 
photograph of Mr. H. M. Stanley. And this was no wonder ; 
he was like Mr. Stanley in face ; the same bold, active expres- 
sion ; and his dress Avas identical : pith helmet, short tunic, 
leather belt, garnished with pistol and pouch, and high rid- 
ing-boots. His " Mr. Arnold, I believe ?" w\as not needed to 
suggest the resemblance. He had brought a letter from the 
British minister at Teheran, repeating in writing the very 
kind invitation which we had received the day before by tele- 
graph at Kasveen, and cautioning us to avoid exposure to the 
sun, which " even at this time of year," Mr. Thomson wrote, 
" is dangerous." 

We left Abdulabad three hours before day-break, in order 
to finish our journey before the great heat of the afternoon. 
There was no moon ; it was cold, and very dark. Ali was 
acting as guide, with his hand upon the bridle of my wife's 



158 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAIT. 

horse, which at every brook or water-course he abandoned, 
leaving the rider to splash into unknown darkness and depths, 
while he sought a crossing which could be accomj)lished dry- 
shod. But Ali misled us, and it was some time before the 
caravan was collected upon the right track. We had, how- 
ever, not gone far, after discovering this error, before there 
was another alarm. The khan, my wife, and I were riding a 
quarter of a mile in advance of the servants and baggage, 
when we heard loud cries of "Houssein!" "Houssein!" and 
saw a tramp who had, for his own convenience, attached him- 
self to our caravan, running toward us, screaming, as Persians 
do whenever they are excited. I turned and galloped back 
in the darkness, expecting at least to find Houssein in the 
hands of robbers. He was only bruised by a tumble from 
his saddle, in which he had fallen asleep. 

The way from Kasveen to Teheran is very uninteresting ; 
the road is " where you please," for the stony plain belongs 
almost entirely to the rider. There is little attempt at culti- 
vation. I^ow and then there is a ^parallelogram surrounded 
by a mud-wall twelve feet high, the rude fortification of a vil- 
lage, such as we rested in the night after leaving Abdulabad. 
It was called by a name which sounded like Gosrozink ; and 
after riding through a hole in the mud fortification, and be- 
tween two ranges of miserable huts, which served as a bazaar, 
we arrived at the place wherein it was proposed we should 
sleep. The khan had gone on before, and, when we arrived, 
he was sitting on the wide ledge of the bramble-roofed gate- 
way, through which every mule entering the yard must pass. 
He was scooj^ing a water-melon with the utmost composure 
and contentment, while a servant, who had arrived before us, 
emerged, broom in hand, from a dark hole opposite — a cave 
constructed of mud cement, with no other light but that from 
a small door opening beneath the gate-way. Houssein seem- 
ed conscious that it would be pronounced an intolerable lodg- 



NATIVE PLOWS. 159 

ing ; and when I pointed, in preference, to one house in the 
village which had a room raised upon the roof of the ground- 
floor, he at once darted off, and, to my horror, I saw him 
flinging out the furniture, which consisted of bundles of rags 
and a few pots of earthenware, before, as it seemed to me, he 
had consulted the wishes of the proprietor. But it soon ap- 
peared that he was not wrong in taking this for granted. 
The lady of the house hurried up the ladder which led to the 
apartment I coveted, and assisted in the removal and sweep- 
ino-. Then I saw that the room had no door : but this it was 
not difiicult to supply with a rug. 

The place was a fine observatory for watching the doings 
of Gosrozink. Across the squalor of the undrained village, 
over the inclosing wall, which was literally and purely built 
of mud, the view of the mountains was delightful ; and as the 
moollah of the village loudly proclaimed the hour of prayer, 
numbers of the people knelt upon their roofs, and made their 
evening prostrations and prayers in the direction of Mecca. 
In the zigzag ways of the village were stored those wretched 
primeval pIow^s which, from the Adriatic Sea to the Pacific 
Ocean, are the bane of agriculture. A beam of wood three 
or four inches in diameter, with a prong of wood (not always 
tipped with iron) fixed at an angle of forty-five degrees — that 
is the plow with which the rich lands of Greece, of Turkey, 
of Persia, and eastward to the ocean, are tilled. The plow of 
the time of Herodotus and of Constantine was in shape pre- 
cisely the same as that which scratches the soil of these coun- 
tries to-day. Who would venture to say what might be the 
increase in the production of corn, if the hght iron plows of 
English manufacture w^ere to pass into general use through- 
out Eastern Europe and in Asia ? 

It is terribly wearisome to ride over a plain so flat that, in 
the morning, one can see the goal of the evening— a ride in 
wdiich nine hours of traveling bring no material change of 



160 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

landscape. When the sun rose, shortly after we left Gosro- 
zink, we could see almost the lowest rock of the spur of the 
Elburz Mountains, under which lay a palace of the Shah, 
where the khan had promised us we should, through his in- 
fluence, obtain good lodging for the last night of our long 
journey. We reached the palace early in the afternoon, 
scarcely less tired than our horses with the heat and dust. 
It is one of half a dozen palaces in the neighborhood of Tehe- 
ran, and was last occupied by the Shah when his majesty re- 
turned from London. 

There are palaces and palaces, and this palace of Karij is 
not in accord with the English notion of a palace. The gate- 
way, placed in the mud-wall which surrounds the buildings 
and gardens, is in style a compound of a Swiss chalet and a 
Chinese pagoda. It opens into a large yard, where we dis- 
mounted. The khan assisted, and then offered his arm in 
English fashion, to the evident astonishment of the Shah's do- 
mestics, to lead the lady of the party to the palace. Through 
a side door we passed from the yard into a garden, and, be- 
neath trellised fig-trees, walked by a shady path to the main 
building. This w^as long and narrow, crossed near each end 
by two staircases, a large landing on the first floor dividing 
the back and front stairs. The steps were painfully steep, 
and covered with blue - glazed tiles, Avhich were generally 
broken. 

ISTot the Shah-in-Shah,* or any other potentate, could main- 
tain a dignified deportment while climbing np such steps as 
those of any one of his palaces. With few exceptions, an 
easy staircase seems to be one of the latest triumphs of civili- 
zation. The imperial steps in the Roman Coliseum are so 



* This title, "Sliah-in-Shah" (King of Kings), is said to have been origi- 
nally assumed by the Persian monarchs in right of their suzerainty over four 
kings — those of Afghanistan, Georgia, Kurdistan, and Arabistan. 



THE IMPERIAL SALOON. • 161 

high that the Caesars must have looked like bears climbing a 
pole or alpine travelers in difficulty, when mounting to their 
throne in that vast amphitheatre. We found the Shah's 
stairs really painful, after our tiresome ride. On the landing 
there were double doors on either hand, covered with a rough, 
red paint, and without locks or handles. We entered on one 
side the large saloon of the palace, the only apartment which 
contained a single article of furniture, and in this room the 
solitary provision was a carpet, or, rather, four carpets ; one 
large carpet in the centre, and thick felts, extending for about 
six feet from the wall, on three sides. At both ends of the 
room, from the roof half-way down the wall, were paintings, 
each containing the portraits, or supposed portraits, of about 
a dozen Shahs, every monarch having a square black beard of 
impossible dimensions and singular uniformity. There was 
one thing in the saloon besides the carpets — a large, circular 
metal tray, about a yard in diameter, on which were three 
large melons, cut in halves, for our refreshment. I think 
every half-melon was more or less scooped before the tray 
was carried away ; and we left the saloon to look at our bed- 
room, which was a large oblong, with doors opening ujDon the 
mud-cement roof of the under offices, of which our servants 
had taken possession, with the result of filling the place with 
the smoke of their cooking fire, for which they had to pur- 
chase wood. 

The light of the bedroom came from the ends, according as 
we raised or lowered the heavy wooden shutters. There were 
no other windows. On the rubbishy concrete floor there 
was a layer of dust, which rose in small clouds as we walked 
across the room. It was not without hard labor that we 
shook off the dust of the Shah's bedroom from our carpets 
the next morning before starting for Teheran. This palace 
of Karij possesses a feature not uncommon in the residences 
of the Shah — a tower joined to, but easily shut against access 



162 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

from, the palace — a high, square building, ascended by flights 
of stairs, with slits for windows, just large enough to admit 
a f^limmer of lig:ht. There is no ornament or furniture ; the 
tower is merely a place of temporary retreat and security in 
case of sudden attack or attempted revolution. I have spoken 
of a " bedroom," but a Persian palace has, properly speaking, 
no apartments specially devoted to sleeping. The khan, in 
the true Persian fashion, passed the night on the thick Kho- 
rassan felt upon the floor of the saloon. 

One looks in vain for the signs of a great city on approach- 
ing the capital of Persia. The plain is stony, nearly level, 
and utterly wearisome. There are strings of camels and 
droves of asses entering and leaving the city. Much of the 
daily food, all the fire-wood, and all the foreign produce con- 
sumed in Teheran must be so conveyed. A wheeled car- 
riage for such service is never seen. No fine building pre- 
sents a remarkable outline. At one or two points, the sun's 
rays gleam upon the vitrified tiles of the dome of a mosque 
or shrine ; but these are miserable in elevation. Nobody 
knows how many people there are in Teheran : some say fifty 
thousand ; some say eighty thousand ; but in other countries 
and climates a town with twenty thousand inhabitants makes 
far more show. Were it not for the plane-trees, one might 
overlook Teheran as one would a sleeping crocodile on the 
banks of the Nile. The city is of the color and of the ma- 
terial of the plain. It is a city of mud, in an oasis of plane- 
trees. The flat roofs continue the level of the plain. As 
one approaches Teheran in autumn, the eye passes over the 
wretched dwellings, is relieved with the verdure of the trees, 
and delights in the high mountains, of which the tallest sum- 
mits, covered with perpetual snow, chill the evening and the 
early morning air, even at that season. 

The area within the heaps of earth which form the de- 
fenses of Teheran is much larger than the city. For the 



THE KASVEEN GATE. 163 

most part, there is no wall, only an irregular trench, at the 
side of which the excavated sand has been carelessly heaped. 
We approached the Kasveen gate in quite a cavalcade. The 
khan's brother, his two sons held by servants upon white 
donkeys, and three mounted servants, had ridden an hour 
from the city to meet him. A man seated on the extreme 
end of a donkey had come out from Prevot's, the hotel of 
Teheran, having heard by telegraph of our probable arrival. 
Altogether we formed a small crowd in passing the gate, 
which, like all the entrances to Teheran, reminds one of Tun- 
bridge ware. The style of building, and the mode of arran- 
ging the glazed bricks, of various colors, is like nothing so 
much as the surface of the boxes one buys, or does not buy, 
at that pleasant town in Mid-Kent. 

No European could enter the gates of Teheran for the first 
time without a feehng of intense disappointment: the city 
appears so insignificant in area and elevation. One sees 
nothing but wide, dusty spaces, broken occasionally by a 
mud -wall of precisely the same color as the road. After 
riding within the gates across country for about a mile, 
through holes in the walls of dusty inclosures which looked 
as if somebody had at one time thought them worth a mud- 
wall, and on second thoughts had arrived at an opposite con- 
clusion, we came to something that had in the uniformity of 
its width the aspect of a street ; but, like all the other ways 
of Teheran, this was bounded by apparently interminable 
walls of mud,, broken only at about every twenty or thirty 
yards by an iron-bound door, the single sign that this erec- 
tion was the outer wall of habitations. At last we arrived 
in the Belgravia of the Persian capital — the place of highest 
fashion ; and there the only difference was, that the twelve- 
foot wall was paneled, and the mud cement covered with 
finer plaster, and washed over with blue, npon which were 
scrolled decorations molded in the same plaster. 



164 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

The uniformity and ugliness of some of our own streets — 
say Gower Street, for example — are bad enough, but a brick 
wall would be woi-se ; and a brick is a thing of beauty, and 
of many colors, compared with mud. Dried mud is the pre- 
vailing material and color in Teheran. One of the principal 
sites in the city is occupied by the " taziah," or theatre, in 
which religious representations are given, after the manner 
of the Ober-Ammergau Passion-plays, of the sufferings and 
death of Houssein. The front of this building is a good 
specimen of modern Persian architecture, which in England 
we should recognize as the Rosherville or Cremorne style — 
the gewgaw, pretentious, vulgar, and ephemeral style, erected 
in those places of amusement, only to be seen at night, and to 
last for a season. The faQade is shaped like a small transept 
of the Crystal Palace, and covered with florid, coarse decora- 
tions in plaster, with headings of bits of coarse looking-glass, 
bright blue, red, yellow, and green being plentifully laid upon 
the plaster wherever there is opportunity. Behind this is the 
Shah's j^alace, which is better, in that the plaster is uncolored. 
The gate which leads to this central inclosure, the citadel, 
or arg (the same word probably as "ark"), of Teheran, is of 
the same Tunbridge-ware pattern as the town gates ; but the 
arches are filled with extravagant representations, in tiles of 
the coarsest colors, of the triumphs of legendary heroes of 
Persia over terrible creatures which can have existed only in 
the fancy of the artist. The excessively grotesque in these 
mosaics gives them a certain curious interest. It is upon the 
inner side of this gate-way that one sees to what a low level 
Persian art has descended. The ornaments of this most im- 
portant and central gate in Teheran are representations of 
Persian soldiers, life-size, the painting of the glazed tiles being 
very much such as is seen in the east end of London upon the 
street bills of the lowest music-halls. In drawing, each sol- 
dier is like the "men" we are accustomed to see from the 



NEGLECT OP PUBLIC WORKS. 165 

pencil of children of three or four years old. The features of 
each man are upon one plan ; they have the same leer as 
those of his companions ; the mustache is a brick and a half 
long, and the black boots are hanging painfully, as if tortured 
in the search for some clod or cloud to stand upon. The or- 
namentation of the exterior of some of the mosques with 
these colored bricks, chiefly of light blue and yellow, is very 
effective ; but we met with no place in which this work was 
not more or less disfigured by ruin ; and repair does not seem 
to be the business of any person or department. 

From one end of Persia to the other, this miserable condi- 
tion of decay, dilapidation, and ruin is characteristic of all 
public edifices — the mosques, palaces, bridges — every thing. 
It is probably correct to say that this invariable condition is 
a consequence of the universal corruption of the Government. 
The work of maintenance and repair belongs to the Executive 
Government, and the funds which should be thus expended 
pass into the rapacious pockets of the governors of the coun- 
try. The gross neglect of useful public works in Persia re- 
called to my mind a passage in which Adam Smith refers to 
this as one of the worst symptoms of the worst administra- 
tion. . He nearly describes the state of things in Persia in the 
following passage, which had reference to the condition of the 
by-roads in France about the middle of the eighteenth centu- 
ry; with the difference, that in Persia no one delights in ex- 
penditure of any sort for the public advantage. Expenditure 
is never made except with a view to jDrivate plunder. " The 
proud minister of an ostentatious court may frequently take 
pleasure in executing a work of sj^lendor and magnificence, 
such as a great highway which is frequently seen by the prin- 
cipal nobility, whose applauses not only flatter his vanity, but 
even contribute to support his interest at court. But to exe- 
cute a number of little works in which nothing that can be 
done can make any great appearance, or excite the smallest 



166 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

degree of admiration in any traveler, and which, in short, have 
nothing to recommend them but their extreme utility, is a 
business which appears in every respect too mean and paltry 
to merit the attention of so great a magistrate. Under such 
an administration, therefore, such works are almost entirely 
neglected."* 

Passing from north to south, almost the first house in Te- 
heran, and certainly the best, is that of the British Legation. 
John Bull must have been caught in a liberal mood, and with 
loose purse-strings, when the vote was taken for this array of 
buildings ; or is it not probable that poor India helped to pay 
for this residence? In Persia, it is the fixed idea of all peo- 
ple that Russia and England are rival powers. The ascend- 
ency of the influence of one or the other at the court of the 
Shah varies with men and circumstances. But although the 
Itussian Legation is not nearly so fine a place as the house of 
the British minister, yet it is generally understood in Teheran 
that at present Russian authority is predominant. Most Per- 
sian statesmen have a decided leaning toward England ; and 
His Highness Mirza Houssein Khan, the present chief minis- 
ter of the Shah, is no exception. But, of course, the Persian 
liking for England is a natural preference for that power 
which is the less suspected of designs upon the independence 
of the country. However, it is certainly believed that a com- 
plainant is better off when he is backed by the Russian envoy. 
The Sadr Azem, as the chief minister is called (though Hous- 
sein Khan was Sipar Salar — commander-in-chief — when we 
were in Teheran), may prefer the English envoy to the Rus- 
sian ; but I have no doubt whatever that he would move more 
quickly at the demand of the latter. From tlie British Lega- 
tion, in a straight southward line, are the taziah, the palace, 
and, farther on, the most interesting part of the town, the ba- 

* " Wealth of Nations," book v., art. 3, part i. 



" CAEAVANSERAI AMEER." 167 

zaars and caravanserais. It is there one can take the truest 
measure of Persian civiHzation. Every one knows what an 
Oriental bazaar is like; in Teheran it is a labyrinth of narrow 
ways, some of which are covered with well-executed brick 
arching, in which customers, camels, donkeys, Persians of high 
degree, attended by half a dozen servants, who rudely clear a 
way for the great man ; Persians of low degree, and in al- 
most every stage of undress ; veiled women, and once a week 
perhaps a European — jostle all day long, while the sellers 
sit mute and motionless, rarely soliciting the custom of the 
throng. The dark shade, flecked with patches of bright sun- 
light, which is perhaps not the least noticeable feature of an 
Oriental bazaar, is broken occasionally by the entry to a cara- 
vanserai or mosque. The commercial caravanserais are some- 
times attractive, the centre of the open square being occupied 
by fountains, and the space itself with plane-trees. Around 
the square, in large boxes, closed with heavy wooden shutters 
when the day's work is over, sit the merchants. The name of 
the finest caravanserai recalls to mind the great crime of the 
Shah's long reign — the cruel execution, at his majesty's word, 
of the most honest and best of his ministers, the Ameer-el- 
Nizam. Tlie " Caravanserai Ameer " of Teheran is known on 
all the paths of Persia. 



168 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. 



CHAPTER XL 

Teheran. — Street of the Foreign Envoys. — The British Minister. — Lanterns 
of Ceremony. — The EngUsh in Telieran. — The Shah's Palace. — Mirza 
Houssein Khan. — The Sipar Salar. — An Oriental Minister. — Persian Cor- 
ruption. — Mirza Houssein Khan's Policy. — His Eetinue. — Brigandage in 
Persia. — Saloon of Audience. — The Jeweled Globe, — The Shah's Throne. 
— The Old Hall. — Persians and the Alhambra. — The Shah receiving 
Homage. — Rustem and the White Devil. — Reports in Teheran. — The 
English Courier. — Character of Persian Government. — The Green Draw- 
ing-room. — The Shah's Album. — Persians and Patriots. — The Shah's 
Jewels.— The "Sea of Light." 

At an open door in the wall of the best -street in Teheran, 
which I have referred to as the " Belgravia " of the city, and 
which might be called " the Street of the Foreign Envoys," 
our twelve days' march ended. We were at Prevot's, a Per- 
sian house, kept by a Frenchman as a hotel, with Armenian 
servants. We found three small rooms prepared for us, look- 
ing upon a paved yard about as large as the rooms, with a 
door-way leading to the larger quadrangle, which forms the 
usual centre of a house in Teheran. From the windows we 
could see a plastered wall four yards distant, and that was 
all ; a miserable, depressing prospect in a city the situation of 
which is highly picturesque. In an hour I called on the En- 
glish minister, Mr. Taylour Thomson, whose visit to us the 
next morning was followed by entertainments which made us 
more or less acquainted with the European element in the 
population of Teheran. 

Mr. Thomson is in some points undoubtedly well qualified 
for his post. But it is only just to say that his long service 
in countries so remote as Persia and Chili (he acted as charge- 



LANTERNS OF CEREMONY. 169 

d'affaires for fifteen years in South America) has had the nat- 
ural and inevitable consequence. Mr. Thomson is far better 
acquainted with Persian modes of thought and with Persian 
politics than with the affairs, and the thoughts, and the policy 
of his own country, and I am inclined to doubt very much if 
this is desirable for one in his position. Local knowledge is 
unquestionably valuable — it is, indeed, indispensable; but I 
believe it to be far more important that the envoy of a coun- 
try should be closely familiar with the mind and disposition 
of those whom Lord Derby has lately called his " employers," 
and this can not be the possession of a man whose memory 
has to pass over five-and-forty years before it reaches the time 
when he was resident in England. 

Mr. Thomson is a man in wliom strength of will and direct- 
ness of speech, two important qualities in English dealings 
with Orientals, are plainly marked. His deficiencies, I should 
say, are due to the absence of a life-time from the polishing in- 
fluence of the capitals of Europe, and in political knowledge, 
from the stimulating action of English opinion, which, during 
the years of his long and honorable diplomatic service, has 
undergone a change far more remarkable than was ever 
brought about at one stroke by the swift agency of revolu- 
tion. 

He has mastered, and that is no small matter, the curiosi- 
ties of Persian etiquette. It baflles the simple EngHsh mind 
to conceive a plan by which rank can be indicated at night in 
a dark, unlighted city, where the streets are full of holes. But 
with the Persian rank is every thing; and this is denoted at 
night according to the size and number of lanterns by which 
the progress of the great is ilhiminated. The ceremonious 
lanterns of Teheran, about eighteen inches in diameter, have 
a metal top and bottom, the intervening and luminous space 
being of plain or colored linen, about a yard deep. Through 
a ring in the top the bearer passes his arm, and, holding it 

8 



170 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

high, he can just keep the lantern from off the ground as he 
walks. On the occasion of a dinner at the British Legation, 
or any similar festival elsewhere, these lanterns are seen ad- 
vancing from all quarters, followed by guests, who are invisi- 
ble in the surrounding gloom. 

We were received with much kindness by the English in 
Teheran. I can imagine nothing more wearisome than their 
position. Their houses, for the most part built in Persian 
fashion, are dull beyond description, because they have no 
view of the grand outlook npon the mountains, to which it 
is always a relief to turn from the wretchedness of Teheran. 
They have what they call "a drive" — a long, straight road 
over the plain in the direction of a suburban palace belong- 
ing to the Shah — a road which is flat, tedious, and horribly 
dusty, one of those dreadful promenades of which the end is 
seen from the commencement. They have their parties, their 
coursings, their balls, in all of which they are doomed to look 
on combinations of the same faces. " We are now," writes 
one of them, " looking forward to a ball next Monday, given 

by , the charge -d'affaires. Fifty -eight Europeans 

are invited. They are all sure to come ; and as the ladies do 
not number, all told, fifteen, the black-coat element necessarily 
preponderates." Narrowness is born of such circumstances, 
but there is an absence of scandal among the European com- 
munity of Teheran which is praiseworthy. 

The English minister obtained permission for ns to visit 
the Shah's palace in Teheran, and added the honor and ad- 
vantage of his company. As is usual in Teheran, Mr. Thom- 
son's carriage was surrounded by mounted servants. It is 
impossible to avoid much ceremony when the English minis- 
ter visits the palace. We passed through the gate of the 
citadel, adorned with the soldiers, to the taziah, which closes 
the end of the street. Then, turning between the walls of 
the palace gardens, which were lined with lounging guards, 



THE shah's palace. 171 

we alighted at the simple entrance to one of the court-yards 
of the palace, the buildings of which are all low, and divided 
by these inclosures, in which there are rows of tall plane-trees 
and paved rectangular walks. 

The minister was received by a large cluster of officials 
and servants, with whom we approached the principal hall of 
audience, which resembles an open temple. There is a mixt- 
ure of Swiss and Chinese forms in the construction of the 
wooden roof, the sides of which are supported by four large 
twisted columns richly gilded. There are hangings of stout 
hempen stuff, by which the whole saloon can be protected 
from the weather; but the intention is that it should be open, 
and the Shah's reception visible to all upon the lower level 
of the court-yards. This is the place in which his majesty 
(who was at the time living in one of his palaces near the 
Caspian shore) receives, on the occasion of a salaam or levee, 
the diplomatic body and other persons of distinction. This 
saloon is raised by six high steps from the court-yard, and is 
nearly sixty feet long, with a width of about twenty-five feet. 
From the richly carpeted floor, we overlooked the court-yards, 
through which ran a stream of clear water, passing beneath 
the saloon in a paved channel. 

We were enjoying a first glance at this curious apartment, 
the ceiling of which is set with facets of looking-glass (these, 
if they had been clean, would have been gorgeous with pris- 
matic colors), when a posse of barefooted servants entered, 
something after the manner of a theatrical procession, evi- 
dently preceding some very great personage. It was His 
Highness the Sipar Salar, acting Prime Minister of the Shah, 
Mirza Houssein Khan, who, when he accompanied his impe- 
rial master to London, was Sadr Azem, which is the highest 
official title, and is, in fact, the Persian equivalent of Prime 
Minister. But Mirza Houssein Khan is not a popular man, 
and upon his return to Persia with His Majesty the Shah, a 



172 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

storm of hatred had risen against him, to which the Shah in- 
clined so far as to deprive his clever minister of the title of 
Sadr Azem. The life of Mirza Houssein Khan was thought 
to be in danger, and it is said in Teheran that an order for 
his execution was arrested only by reminding the Shah that 
one who has the Grand Cross of the Star of India must, as 
a member of a most illustrious English brotherhood, be re- 
garded as a person not to be given over to the knife or the 
bowstring of the executioner, without consideration for the 
opinion of Europe. 

The Sipar Salar, next to the Shah himself, the greatest 
personage in the country, was in undress uniform of Russian 
cut. His overcoat resembled precisely, excepting its orna- 
ments, that of a Russian officer. He wore the Persian hat, 
black trousers, and " pumps " of polished leather, which made 
a considerable exposition of his white stockings. Probably 
his highness wore these slight shoes in order to place him- 
self upon equality with the Europeans who were treading the 
imperial carpets in their walking -boots. In pumps, he was 
equal to the customs of either continent; these could easily 
be laid aside if he desired to appear in Persian fashion, in 
his stockings. His highness was the only Persian whose feet 
were shod. Of his large retinue of more than fifty persons, 
those who mounted with the Sipar Salar into the saloon had 
left their shoes upon the pavement below. Mirza Houssein 
Khan is a man about middle height and middle age, with, 
for a Persian, commonplace features, full of mobility, and ex- 
pressing great cleverness. He talks French fluently, and has 
a quick ruse manner. An artificial manner is cultivated by 
Persians, who in public affairs and correspondence do not 
affect sincerity. The Sipar Salar is a man whom, even at 
first sight, one feels little disposed to trust; a statesman of 
very superior ability and intelligence, probably spoiled by 
the cruel difficulties of his position. If the reports current 



AN ORIENTAL MINISTER. 173 

ill Teheran are true, his highness has not found it easy to 
keep his head on his shoulders in a great position in a coun- 
try governed by a wayward despot, whose mind may at any 
time be fatally influenced against his minister. 

An Oriental minister, even so clever a man as Mirza Hous- 
sein Khan, does not seem desirous of pushing his own coun- 
try into European grooves when he has traveled in the West- 
ern Continent. If such ideas ever enter into such minds, 
they are, at all events, soon abandoned. He has, and that 
in itself is no small advantage, a truer estimate than can be 
formed by his untraveled countrymen of the strength, power, 
and wealth of the nations of Europe. But it is the Palais 
Royal of Paris rather than the Palace of Westminster which 
fills the largest place in his mind. His longing, as a rule, 
turns rather to the former than to the latter. In his shallow, 
courteous conversation, Mirza Houssein Khan did not appear 
to me to have any other view for Persia than that of battling 
with the difficulties of his own position, which I have no 
doubt are very engrossing. As he is certainly in experience 
the ablest and most competent of Persian statesmen, Mirza 
Houssein Khan would seem to be the ris^ht man in the rio-ht 
place. But his is a position which would break the heart of 
a good man. One can imagine a good man killing himself 
in the effort to reform the Government of Persia. But suc- 
cess would seem impossible, and endurance must lead to 
compromise with evil and corruption of every sort. A vio- 
lent death would be the likely end of a good man in such a 
position, and wealth that of one who would accept the place 
and swim in the stream of corruption. 

People say that Mirza Houssein Khan has preferred the 
latter course. A week before we met his highness on this 
visit to the Shah's palace, the following was written for publi- 
cation with reference to him by a resident in Teheran, who 
has had opportunity of forming a mature judgment upon the 



174 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

estimation in which this undoubtedly able minister is held in 
Persia : 

" Since Mirza Houssein Khan has been at the head of af- 
fairs in Persia, the country, both socially and politically, has 
followed a visibly retrograde movement. On him at one 
time all hopes of progress were centred : his promises of re- 
form were great ; but events have now shown either that he 
never meant to keep those promises, or that he is incapable 
of the task. Of all the influences that act against the true in- 
terests of the State, the selfish ambition and the avarice of 
this powerful minister have been perhaps the most effectual. 
To keep in his own hands the whole power of Government, 
and to enrich himself by this means, are with him the sole 
ends of existence ; and, to effect his purpose, he leads the 
Shah's attention as much as possible away from public affairs 
while his majesty is at home, which is now rarely the case, 
as his chief adviser contrives to persuade him to undertake 
repeated journeys into the provinces. Thus it happens that 
during the last eight months the Shah has passed barely ten 
days in the capital. His majesty is now on a hunting expe- 
dition near Sari, in Mazandaran ; and Mirza Houssein Khan, 
left completely his own master, has surrounded himself with 
almost regal pomp. Yesterday, at the Beiram ceremony of 
the salaam [a levee held by the third son of the Shah], he was 
followed by a cortege more numerous than that which the 
king himself leads on great occasions. In contrast with these 
displays, the affairs of Government have fallen into deplora- 
ble confusion, and oppression has become so rampant that an 
open manifestation of popular discontent is to be expected. 
Never was there a more unpopular minister. Two years ago, 
when the Mirza was execrated as a reformer by the nobles 
and the priesthood, he succumbed for a time to the opposi- 
tion of these conservative classes. N^ow that the hatred of 
the populace is added to that of his political rivals, his fall. 



SALOON OF AUDIENCE. 1*75 

when it comes, will be signal indeed. It is not to be denied 
that bi'iofandao-e is flonrishino; in Persia. Caravans and trav- 
elers are plundered at the very gates of Teheran. Want and 
oppression have turned the most peaceful of the population 
into hiofhwavmen." 

It may be that Mirza Houssein Khan, who nearly lost his 
life on account of his reputation as a reformer on his return 
from London, is now content if he can keep his head on his 
shoulders, and himself above all his rivals on the surface of 
the foul pool of official life in Persia. 

Close to the insignificant door-way by which we entered 
the saloon, there is hung upon the wall a very large picture, 
which, somewhere about the centre, contains a full - length 
portrait of the Emperor of Austria. The picture is so large, 
and is hung in so important a position, that, should other 
monarchs who are on friendly terms make the Shah a similar 
present, it would be quite impossible for his imperial majesty 
to give even to one of them an equally advantageous display. 
When the Shah received this portrait, he resolved to present 
in return a likeness of himself, and declared it should be 
placed in a frame of solid gold. But inquiry and calculation 
modified his majesty's intentions, and at last he consented to 
order a gilt frame in Francis Joseph's own capital city. Be- 
neath this huge canvas were hung a landscape and a sea-piece, 
evidently purchased from some French gallery, the small tin 
plate bearing the exhibition number of each picture being 
still in the corner. 

It is at the opposite end of this saloon that the " Shadow 
of God" sits on his heels, or stands to receive the envoys 
of Europe. But the Shah's movable throne was not occupy- 
ing the central niche. There, in that place of honor, we were 
permitted to gaze upon one of the characteristic feats, per- 
haps the greatest art-work, of his majesty's long reign. This 
is an eighteen-inch globe, covered Avith jewels from the North 



ITG THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 

Pole to the extremities of the tripod in which this gemmed 
sphere is placed. The story goes that his majesty bought — 
more probably accepted, at all events was in possession of — 
a heap of jewels, for which he could find no immediate pur- 
pose. Nothing could add to the lustre of his crown of dia- 
monds, which is surmounted by the largest ruby we have ever 
seen, including those of her majesty and the Emperors of 
Germany and Russia. He liad the " Sea of Light," a dia- 
mond in size but little inferior to the British Koh-i-noor, the 
"Mountain of Light." He had coats embroidered with dia- 
monds, with emeralds, with rubies, with pearls, and with gar- 
nets ; he had jeweled swords and daggers without number; 
so, possibly because his imperial mind w^as turned toward 
travel, the Shah ordered this globe to be constructed, covered 
with gems — the overspreading sea to be of emeralds, and the 
kingdoms of the world distinguished by jewels of different 
color. The Englishman notes with pride and gratification 
that England flashes in diamonds ; and a Frenchman may 
share the feeling, for France glitters illustrious as the British 
isles, being set out in the same most costly gems. The do- 
minion of the Shah's great neighbor, the brand-new Em- 
press of India, is marked Avith amethysts ; while torrid Africa 
blazes against the literally emerald sea, a whole continent of 
rubies. 

^ear the globe, side by side with a French couch, worth 
perhaps a hundred francs, stands the Shah's throne, which is, 
of course, arranged for sitting after the manner of the coun- 
try. It occupies a space almost as large as Mr. Spurgeon's or 
Mr. Ward Beecher's pulpit ; for the occupants of this throne 
are fond of space, and occasionally have a kaUan of wonder- 
ful dimensions with them upon the splendid carpet, which is 
fringed with thousands of pearls. The embroidered bolster 
upon which the Shah rests his back or arm is sewn with 
pearls. Behind his majesty's head is a "sun," all glittering 



THE shah's thkone. 177 

with jewels, supported at the corners with birds in plumage 
of the same most expensive material. 

On the other side of the niche in which the globe stands, 
there is a table grimy with dust and extremely incongruous, 
the top inlaid with the beautiful work of Florence, and a mod- 
el, in Sienna marble, of the Arch of Titus, both gifts from his 
holiness the infallible Pope. Near these presents, in a recess, 
and in a very common wooden frame, is a portrait of the late 
Sir Henry Havelock ; and, not far off, a time-piece with " run- 
ning water" and a nodding peacock, a gift from the defunct 
East India Company in the days when Shahs received such 
toys as pleased them, and were not considered eligible as 
knights of the great orders of European courts. 

At a short distance is another and a much older hall, still 
more exposed to public view. In this pavilion, which is built 
to cover and give increased dignity to the ancient throne of 
the Shah, the arrangements are wholly Persian. The marble 
floor is raised not more than three feet above the pavement 
of a large oblong court-yard, up the broad paths of which the 
sons of Iran throng to make salaam before their monarch. 
The Shah sits in the motionless majesty of an Oriental po- 
tentate, upon a high throne built of the alabaster-like greenish 
marble of Yezd, the platform which the "Shadow of God" 
occupies being supported upon animals, having the same queer 
resemblance to lions which is noticed in the supporters of the 
great fountain of the Alhambra at Granada. With reference 
to this likeness, and to other points of resemblance, both in 
this palace and in the decorations in some of the modern jDal- 
aces of Persia, Major Murdoch Smith, R.E., the accomj^lished 
director of the Indo-Persian Telegraph, has indicated, in a re- 
port to the Council of the South Kensington Museum, the 
probability that the Alhambra of Granada was itself designed 
by Persian architects; and, with regard to this supposition, 
has pointed to the statement of Seiior Rivadeneyra concern- 

8* 



ITS - THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

ing the existence of official documents assigning Rioja in 
Spain to " Persians " as a place of residence. 

The ceiling of this old reception-hall in the Shah's Palace 
at Teheran is fashioned in stalactites, like the ceilings in the 
ruins of the famous Oriental palace in Spain, and then cov- 
ered with pieces of looking-glass, which, if the work were not 
bad, and the glass were cleaned, would have a very glittering 
effect. Externally the roof is suggestive of a Chinese pago- 
da. In this pavilion, the background of which is hung with 
a few pictures in frames of looking-glass, including a portrait 
of a singularly handsome young Englishman, formerly at- 
tached to the British Legation, the Shah reclines upon the 
marble platform of his throne, on those very great occasions 
w^hen the hundred and fifty yards of the inclosure before it 
are filled with a moving crowd of his subjects, to whom he 
is the impersonation of law and authority. For their rever- 
ent homage, he makes no sign of gratification or acknowledg- 
ment. The " proper thing" for his majesty to do, when thus 
exhibiting himself in solemn state, is to regard their expres- 
sion of loyalty and devotion as something far beneath his no- 
tice ; and probably the imperial gaze passing over their heads 
is now and then fixed upon the coarse mosaic on the wall at 
the end of the court -yard, showing how Rustem, the "Ar- 
thur," the legendary hero, of Persia, destroyed the White 
Devil — an encounter, it should be remembered, of authen- 
ticity as respectable as that of St. George and the familiar 
Dragon which is stamped upon so many of the current coins 
of England. 

I had scarcely ceased talking with the Sipar Salar, whom I 
had seen at several entertainments in London, when one of 
the numerous company whispered in my ear, pointing to his 
highness, " He had one of his wives strangled lately." I did 
not for a moment believe that this was any thing but a piece 
of idle gossip, yet it is worth recording, because it is one of 



EEPOETS IN TEHEEAN. 179 

many pieces of evidence which came to our notice indicating 
the bad state of society in Persia, owing to the uncivilized 
system prevailing both in the family and in the State. Per- 
haps the worst symptom of the body politic in Persia is that 
no one hesitates in ascribing horrible crimes to the most 
highly placed men in the State, and that the venality of such 
exalted persons in regard to the misappropriation of public 
money is regarded as a foregone conclusion. 

A few days before our visit to the palace, the talk of all 
the soldiery in Teheran, as we heard from several of their 
officers, had been that the crown prince, the Governor of 
Tabriz, had caused his wife to be strangled in his presence. 
Homicide or murder is a prerogative of royalty in Persia. 
But what was most amazing was the ready reception given 
to the report, which was regarded, even by Europeans, as 
quite authentic. The report was untrue. It had origin in 
the fact that the prince's aunt had lately sent a second wife 
to her illustrious nephew in Tabriz, and the anger and grief 
of the first wife, on seeing the new arrival, had been magni- 
fied into her death. The minister of public works is said to 
double his estimates, and to retain the surplus for himself, 
after silencing those w^hose mouths must be stopped. The 
frequent robberies of the messengers of the British Legation, 
while carrying letters and dispatches overland from Teheran 
to Trebizonde, have been the subject of much talk, and Per- 
sians wag their heads and say that this happens because his 
highness Mirza Houssein Khan likes to read Mr. Thomson's 
letters to Lord Derby, and the replies of the British Foreign 
Office. 

With reference to this curious charge, I will make the fol- 
lowing extract from a letter w^ritten by a resident in Teheran, 
dated [N'ovember 2d, 1875 : " The English courier, on his last 
journey from Constantinople, was attacked and robbed on or 
near the frontier. The previous courier had been stopped 



180 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN-. 

and examined by the police at Tabriz, on suspicion of smug- 
gling contraband goods into the country. As the English 
parcels alone were opened, however, the couriers of the other 
legations never meeting with adventures of this kind, some 
people affirm that the attack upon the British post was insti- 
gated by the Mushir-ul-Dowleh himself, who wished to inter- 
cept or to make himself acquainted with the contents of cer- 
tain dispatches. I can not, of course, pretend to say whether 
or not this assertion is true, but it must be said that the Mir- 
za's known unscrupulousness gives it some color." 

It is universally believed that a little money will mitigate, 
and that much money will obviate, the punishment of crime. 
That every "hakem," or governor, may commit offenses 
against the property and lives of the Shah's subjects within 
his province with impunity, no one seems to doubt. It mat- 
ters little, in forming our judgment as to the social condition 
of Persia, whether these reports are true or false. They are 
not all true — some are certainly false — they may all be false, 
and yet the tacit, unastonished acceptance of them as true 
by the populace implies that they have at least the common 
flavor of the ordinary fruits of Persian government. 

From the great halls of state, the commander-in-chief, the 
minister of commerce, and other Persian grandees led our 
party to an orange house, through the centre of which ran 
the stream of clear water I have noticed before as passing be- 
neath the saloon of the gilded columns. On the marble pave- 
ment beside this running water there were chairs and couches 
arranged, upon which his highness invited us to be seated. 
Snowy sherbet and warm tea were then served, and after- 
ward we proceeded to a more homely saloon than those we 
had seen. The architecture of this room, a succession of ar- 
cades, again carried our thoughts to Spain, in its resemblance 
to the mosque, now the cathedral, of Cordova. It w^as a 
large oblong apartment, the walls colored green, with raised 



THE shah's chair OF STATE. 181 

decorations in white plaster, the room containing three rows 
of arches. On the walls were a great many pictures very 
irregularly hung. Many had in the corner the exhibition 
number in the gallery from which the Shah had bought them 
during his recent tour ; and in no very conspicuous place was 
a small portrait of her majesty, a gift presented by Mr. Thom- 
son to the Shah on behalf of the queen. The floor was of 
parqueterie - w^ork, and upon it stood several Sevres jars of 
great value. Very uncomfortable chairs, evidently bought by 
people with little knowledge of what a chair should be, were 
ranged against the walls. On a table lay a photographic al- 
bum containing the portraits of actresses, of whose personal 
charms the Shah may be supposed to have become acquainted 
by report, and by diligent attendance at theatres during his 
stay in Europe. At one end of the apartment was an object 
in strange contrast with the trumpery by which it was sur- 
rounded. This was an awkward, ugly chair of state studded 
with jew^els, having a footstool, before which stood a cat-like 
representation of a lion, each eye a single emerald, and the 
body rugged w4th a coating of other precious stones. It was 
so entirely in keeping with the mixture Ave had everywhere 
observed, that the stand upon which this chair was placed 
should be studded with white-headed German nails worth 
about twopence a dozen ! 

Xone of the great rooms of the palace have covered com- 
munications, and from this green saloon we crossed another 
open court to a pavilion in which the Shah frequently gives 
audience, which is distinguished by the possession of an En- 
glish carpet, and by the exhibition upon the walls of two fine 
pieces of Gobelins tapestry. One sees in the figures upon 
tliis tapestry, and in the portraits upon the walls of the pal- 
ace, how far the Persians have departed from observing the 
rule which was certainly that of the architects of the Alham- 
bi-a, and which is observed by the Turks and all Sunni Mo- 



182 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVA^^-. 

hammeclanSj of excluding imitation or resemblance of life 
from the ornamentation of their public buildings. 

In another room we saw the imperial jewels, which, by- 
special command of his highness the Sipar Salar, were laid 
out upon tables for our inspection. I fancy that no sover- 
eign in Europe has a regalia of equal value. The Shah is 
especially rich in diamonds of large, but not the very largest 
size. He has a great number of which the surface is as large 
as a silver sixpence. The imperial crown is topped with a 
ruby which is probably the largest in the world. The " Sea 
of Light," a flat, ill-cut diamond, mounted in a semi-barbaric 
ornament, is inferior to the great jewel worn by the Empress 
of India. The display of the Shah's riches in precious stones 
included, of necessity, the exhibition of several coats, the 
fronts of which are studded and embroidered with jewels. 
Several of these became well known during the Shah's tour, 
when they were shown to the admiring gaze of European 
cities. There, too, was the wonderful aigrette, which the 
Shah's brow sustained during the grandest of the London 
entertainments, and beside these garments lay a number of 
jeweled swords and daggers. From the dazzling spectacle 
of this display we passed again to the orange house, where 
coffee and pipes were served, after which we took leave of 
the Shah's ministers, his highness the Sipar Salar having 
promised Mr. Thomson that we should be provided with 
vizierial letters to the Governors of Koom, Kashan, Ispahan, 
Shiraz, and Bushire. 



"boxes of justice." 183 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Shah. — The Kajar Dynasty. — Boxes of Justice. — Persian Soldiers. — 
Their Drill and Pay. — Military Supper in Ramadan. — Jehungur Khan. — 
The Shah's Presents. — Zoological Garden. — View from Teheran. — Dema- 
vend. — Persian Fever. — Persian Honesty. — Europeans and Persians. — 
Caps and Galoches. — A Paper War.— The Ottoman Embassy. — A British 
Complaint. — A Turkish Atrocity. — Persian Window Law. — English in 
Bazaars. — The Indo-European Telegraph Stations in Persia. — The En- 
glish Clergyman in Persia. 

The Shah is of the Kajar tribe — a dynasty yet young, the 
annals of which have been marked by great cruelties. Nazr- 
ed-deen Shah, Kajar, the reigning monarch, has in this mat- 
ter a better character than his predecessors, with w^hom it 
has not been uncommon to put out the eyes of those relations 
who stood in their w^ay to the throne, or who might be rivals 
when they had attained that position. The Shah himself is 
not unpopular, and is believed to have at heart the welfare 
of his subjects. Persians frequently speak of him as in per- 
sonal character the best among the governing men of the 
country, and they are never shy in talking of their rulers. 
If there is any tempering in the Persian despotism, it is that 
of abuse of all who surround the despot. His majesty re- 
cently issued an order that a "Box of Justice" should be 
fixed in a prominent place in all the large towns for the re- 
ception of petitions, which were to be forwarded direct to 
himself. But the oppressors found means to thwart this in- 
nocent plan by setting a watch over the boxes and upon those 
who wished to forward petitions. 

Thrice the amount of the British Prime Minister's salary, 
or twice that of the President of the United States, does not 



184 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAI^-. 

satisfy men of the first official rank in Persia. And while 
the prince governors in the provinces and all the high func- 
tionaries of State plunge their greedy hands thus deep into 
the miserable revenue, forced — often at the bayonet's point — 
from the poorest of peasants, the soldiery are not seldom 
marauders, with the excuse that they can not obtain their 
pay from the Government. The creditors of the peasants 
and small traders are generally in the uniform of the Shah. 
In Persia the trade of small money-lenders is usually carried 
on by soldiers, for these only feel sure of the requisite power 
to recover their loans. The defaulter well knows that if he 
does not repay the soldier, his house or his store in the ba- 
zaar will be plundered of all that is worth taking by a gang 
of military money-lenders. 

There is a parade every morning in Teheran. It takes 
place in a dusty inclosure near the meidan, or principal 
square. We were present on several occasions at these pa- 
rades, where European drill-instructors vainly labored. The 
Persian soldiers are fine in physique, though they look more 
awkward, I iancj-, even than Japanese in European hats, tu- 
nics, and trousers. In England one is apt to think that mi- 
litia-men display every possible awkwardness in wearing an 
infantry hat and scarlet tunic, but the Persian soldiers beat 
the rawest of our militia-men. Some wear the hat on the 
back of their heads like a fez, others at the side ; with some 
it falls over their eyes. Their drill is wretched. Their of- 
ficers are probably the worst part of the force. This is the 
special weakness and inferiority of all Oriental armies. I 
saw a Persian officer box the ears of a private on the parade- 
ground, rushing into the ranks to execute this summary pun- 
ishment. 

There is a reason for the deficiency of the rank and file in 
drill. No soldier comes to parade who can obtain work in 
the city. The consequence is that the personnel of each skel- 



MILITARY SUPPER IN RAMADAN. 185 

eton regiment is changed every morning, and the unhappy 
drill-instructor has never before him the same body of men. 
But this immunity from service must of course be paid for, 
and the absent privates devote a jDortion of their earnings to 
their officers, who, from their colonel to the corporal, divide 
the fund contributed in respect of this temporary desertion. 
From the officers and middle class of State officials, a some- 
what intricate method of inlander is adopted. Their pay, al- 
though appropriated from the revenue, is withheld, and after 
repeated applications they are told that the minister will ad- 
vance the sum with a deduction to cover his personal risk. 
The offer is generally accepted from pressing necessity, and 
the gains of the higher functionaries from this line of conduct 
are said to be not inconsiderable. I was assured by an officer 
that he himself suffered this treatment, and that he knew it 
to be common in the civil and military service of the Shah. 

Every evening in Ramadan, of which there remained some 
days after our arrival in Teheran, the Sipar Salar entertained 
a regiment at dinner. The repast was served by candle-light 
in the straight street between the gate of the citadel and the 
taziah. Two lines of tliick felt {numiniid) were laid equi- 
distant from the centre of the street, leaving about a yard of 
the bare road between them. Shortly before the gun-fire, his 
highness's guests w^ere seated in long files upon the felt. Aft- 
er the gun had boomed permission, huge dishes, one to every 
four soldiers, each piled high Avith rice and stewed meat, were 
placed in the centre of the road, and were at once hidden 
from view by the overhanging heads of the hungry men, ev- 
ery one hard at work with his fingers. Under such circum- 
stances, the nearer the mouth can be brought to the dish, the 
larger is the share which can be pushed into it. Close over 
every dish four heads were laid together, and not a Avord was 
uttered till the platters were empty. 

For the officers there was spread a white cloth between the 



186 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVA]!?-. 

carj)ets, and a little adornment was attempted in tlie way of 
bouquets placed between the lighted candles, which were pro- 
tected by Russian bell-glasses, and shone like glow-worms 
down the long street. In company with a member of the 
British Legation, I was looking on, when Jehungur Khan, 
the adjutant-general of the Persian army, one of the stoutest 
and most courteous men in the country, asked us to join the 
soldiers in the fruit and tea which followed the pillau. We 
sat down, doing all we could to get rid of our legs, which had 
an awkward, natural tendency to cross the dining-table. My 
immediate neighbors were officers of the Shah's irregular cav- 
alry, gentlemen wearing turbans almost as broad as their 
shoulders, and with a very Bashi-bazoukish look. 

At that time a story was in circulation with reference to 
this Jehungur Khan, which is very possibly untrue, but, being 
accepted by many as correct, is curiously illustrative of Per- 
sian government. It was said that one of the courtiers who 
owed him a grudge had told the Shah that he (the adjutant- 
general) had saved eight thousand tomans out of a work in 
hand, and that he wished to present them to his majesty. 
The King of Kings is much addicted to presents, and, as usu- 
al, graciously signified his willingness to accept, and Jehun- 
gur Khan had to produce the money, which he had not saved. 
The Shah does not appear to be very scrupulous in regard to 
presents. There is at least one tradesman in London from 
whom articles were purchased by order of his majesty for 
presents to some of his ladies, which have not yet been paid 
for, and probably this is not the only city of Europe in which 
the Shah obtained articles of value in this way without pay- 
ing for them. 

In the quarter of the town near the Legations there are 
several walled gardens, and one of these is devoted to zoology. 
We were about to apply for admission, when an Englishman 
recommended us to remain outside. The caging of the few 



MOUNT DEMAYEISTD. 187 

beasts was, he said, quite uncertain. The lion was sometimes 
observed taking an airing, roaming where he pleased within 
the walls, and the bear had been seen from outside climbing a 
plane-tree. One is named the Shah's " English " garden, and 
from this his majesty lately received, with great effusion, a 
bunch of radishes as a present from his English gardener. If 
it were not for these gardens, the appearance of Teheran 
would indeed be miserable. We mounted upon one of the 
highest houses, from which we could overlook the city. Par- 
allelograms of mud varied with cupolas of mud, representing 
the roofs of the houses, are the general features, the long suc- 
cession of mud roofs being now and then broken by the taller 
plane-trees and the cypresses of a garden. But the landscape 
is charming, and even the Himalayas do not present grander 
elevations than may be seen from Teheran ; the loftiest peak 
of the Elburz Mountains in sight being that of Demavend, an 
extinct volcano, the top of which is not less than eighteen 
thousand five hundred feet above the sea-level. The conical 
summit of this high mountain is covered with perpetual snow, 
and some of the peaks near Demavend are not of much infe- 
rior altitude. 

At the latter end of October I was prostrated with fever. 
I remember that, in the witless condition in which I lay, the 
pains appeared to my disordered imagination as if I were suf- 
fering from the effects of a terrible beating, and, with every 
muscle sore and painful, were condemned to be rolled about 
upon sheets of heated copper. When I became convalescent, 
the closeness of the apartments at Prevot's seemed intoler- 
able, and, through the kindness of a Danish officer, Mr. Laes- 
soe, resident in Teheran, we removed to a suite of rooms in 
his house, which had been the residence of the French Lega- 
tion. There we had a large garden, and an open view of the 
plain and mountains. Mr. Lsessoe holds the position of chief 
instructor of artillery in the army of the Shah. His wife, 



188 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CA11AVA:N-. 

from whom also we received much kindness, is a daughter of 
the distinguished painter, Madame Jerichau. 

At the house of every European of position in Teheran 
there is a permanent guard of soldiers, who hurriedly forsake 
their pipe, or game of cards upon the dust, to present arms 
upon the arrival of any visitor. The doors of these houses 
are generally open throughout the day; and as Persians re- 
gard an open door as an invitation to enter, and the rooms are 
never locked, and rarely closed with any thing more obstruct- 
ive than a cotton curtain, it is necessary there should be 
some guard in the door -way. Europeans talk much of the 
dishonesty of Persians, but our experience did not confirm 
the bad opinion. Our suite of rooms in this mud-built house, 
which had formerly belonged, to the French envoy, opened 
npon a large square garden inclosed by a mud -wall, ruined 
and broken down in three or four places, by which any one 
might enter. Our doors and windows had no fastenings, and 
by either it was never difficult to enter the rooms from the 
garden. On the other side was a court-yard, with a fountain 
and a few trees in the centre ; and this, excej)t for the sol- 
diers and servants who lay about in the passages connecting 
it with the crowded street, was quite open. Yet we never 
suffered any loss from theft. 

The manner in which Europeans meet Persian habits half- 
way, in their intercourse with the highest class of natives, al- 
ways appears to me ridiculous and humiliating. It is a clean- 
ly habit, that of Mohammedans, not to enter their carpeted 
apartments in the shoes they have worn in the mud of the 
filthy ways and streets of Oriental towns. N"o doubt, if Ave 
could choose, many of us in London would prefer that our 
visitors should carry their boots in their hands and their hats 
on their heads, rather than the reverse, especially npon a 
muddy day. But the English in Persia confound both prac- 
tices in a most unseemly way. They wear their hats in the 



A PAPER WAE. 189 

presence of Persians of high rank as a compromise with na- 
tive prejudice, which from habit dislikes to see the head un- 
covered, and embarrass their feet with galoches in order that 
they may leave these overshoes at the door of the great man's 
apartment. In the course of our own travels in Persia, I no- 
ticed this on the part of Europeans ; but even after such ex- 
perience, I was rather surprised to find it elevated to a duty 
in the recently published volumes edited by Sir Frederic G. 
Goldsmid, and entitled " Eastern Persia." By officers of the 
Boundary Commission galoches for ceremonious receptions 
were provided as indispensable, and the members of the Com- 
mission always sat on these occasions in their undress caps. 
I should fancy that, to a quick-witted people like the Per- 
sians, this appears very absurd. For my own part, in any in- 
tercourse with men of the highest rank and of the imperial 
family in Persia, I never adopted these fashions. One need 
not soil carpets in a country where riding is universal, nor 
encourage premature baldness by wearing one's hat when 
there is no need of shelter from the sun or the outer air. 

During our stay in Teheran, a fierce paper war was raging 
with reference to a dispute which, in continuation of the 
above remarks, shows what a tendency Englishmen have to 
take local coloring in their domestic habits. The peculiar 
construction of Persian houses has an object, that of securing 
most complete privacy for the inmates. It is true that there 
is no part of a Persian house which can not be looked into by 
any of the inhabitants; but this does not offend Mussulman 
ideas, of w^hich the first is that the male head of the house- 
hold is lord of all, and that none can have rights separate 
from his supreme authority. Persians much dislike rooms 
raised above the ground- floor, because these erections may 
enable neighbors to observe their domestic arrangements. 
Many tales are told of the fierce opposition which the inten- 
tion to raise a second story has aroused in the hearts of 



190 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

neighbors, and, as a rule, it is not permitted by the authorities 
to any one to build so as to overlook another house. 

War had broken out upon this domestic question between 
the representatives of Great Britain and of the Ottoman Em- 
pire. The mediation of Persia had been called in, and Mirza 
Houssein Khan was engaged in arranging a treaty of peace 
and future amity. The British envoy's object was to circum- 
vent the wicked and abominable design of the Ottoman em- 
bassador (the politicians of the Porte have, as a rule, no Mus- 
sulman prejudices), who had dared, to build an embassy-house 
in sight of that of Great Britain, and to add a second story, 
from which it was possible to see something of the ladies of 
the British Legation (the subsequent tale about the archives 
is too ridiculous to be true) if they happened to be walking 
in the extensive grounds in which are the houses of the secre- 
taries and attaches, as well as the residence of the minister. 

The Bulgarian atrocities had not then been heard of, and 
one might have thought that no subject of Great Britain 
need object to be exposed to the eye of a Turk with an in- 
terval of not less than five hundred yards. But this was not 
the view of the British Legation. That the British establish- 
ment should command a view of the Ottoman quarters was 
quite unobjectionable; but that the Turk should be able to 
cast an eye upon the Englishman's garden was intolerable. 
I do not know how this great international difficulty has been 
arranged ; but, since our return to England, I have met with 
a published letter written about the time of our visit by a 
gentleman who lives in Teheran, which is probably, at least 
on some points, well informed. This correspondent says: 
"A short time ago the Turkish Government hired a building 
for fifteen years, to serve as a residence for its representative. 
The edifice stands within a few hundred yards of the Brit- 
ish Legation, which is surrounded by a garden inclosed by a 
high wall. The wall is, however, not high enough to conceal 



A TUEKISH ATEOCITY. 191 

the upper part of the Legation. The Turks wished to add a 
story to their Legation ; but the English minister, on hearing 
of their intention, opposed it, on the ground that, if carried 
out, it would afford to the denizens of the Turkish ' palace ' 
a view into the apartments occupied by the secretaries of the 
English mission, and, to give greater weight to his assertion, 
said that the archives of the Legation would be exposed to 
prying eyes. The Mushir-ul-Dowleh received a complaint to 
this effect in due form from Mr. Thomson, and, instead of de- 
clining to interfere in a matter which did not concern him, 
promised to arrange matters to the satisfaction of the En- 
glish minister. By his order, a commission was appointed 
to examine the relative positions of the two edifices ; but the 
result of their inspection was far from satisfactory for Mr. 
Thomson. They stated not only that the distance between 
the two Legations was too considerable to allow of any per- 
son in the Turkish Legation becoming acquainted from that 
vantage-ground with the contents of any documents exposed 
to view in the archive ofiice of the English Legation, the lat- 
ter being situated at least a third of a mile from its Turkish 
neighbor, but that none of the windows of the English ar- 
chive office faced the new building. They observed, more- 
over, that if Mr. Thomson desired absolutely to conceal the 
roof of his habitation, he had only to add a foot or two to 
the height of his garden walls." The letter (which appeared 
in the Levant Herald) goes on to state that, undaunted by 
this adverse decision, " Mr. Thomson raised the precedent 
of one Melconb, an English subject at Bushire, who, in the 
course of certain building operations, was sued at law by 
some neighbors jealous of their privacy, and forced to aban- 
don or modify his undertaking. The dispute has thus been 
placed in a new light. Either it is not lawful in Persia to 
have windows commanding a prospect of another man's 
house, even at a distance of five hundred yards, or it is law- 



192 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAR A VAX. 

fill to have windows possessing that not uncommon peculiar- 
ity. In the former case, the Turkish Legation has no course 
left but to close up all its windows permanently and alter its 
fa9ade; in the latter case, the judgment pronounced against 
Mr. Melcom of Bushire is illegal, and the Persian Govern- 
ment owes him heavy damages." Let us hope that this 
storm about mud-walls and windows has now been arranged 
to the satisfaction of all parties. 

To my mind, the most interesting part of Teheran is to be 
found in the bazaars, which the Europeans of the legations 
very rarely enter, and their ladies never. The men appear 
to regard the shoving-about to which one must more or less 
submit in the narrow ways of the bazaars as a serious in- 
fringement upon the dignity of their position, and the ladies 
consider a visit to the bazaars as simply impossible. The 
sight of an unveiled w^oman has no doubt a tendency to make 
P^-sians use language which can not but be taken as in- 
sulting ; and if Englishmen in their company are acquainted 
with Persian slang, they are likely enough to have a quarrel 
or two on hand in passing through a bazaar. Ignorance of 
the vernacular has unquestionably some advantages in Persia. 

A long inclosure separates the buildings of the palace from 
the bazaar. There are in this open space two large tanks, 
at which camels, horses, mules, and men are always drinking. 
Upon a high stand a very long, huge cannon is placed, which 
is said to have been captured in India, and brought as a tro- 
phy from Delhi; but this is probably untrue. 

Second only to the British Legation in importance is the 
establishment of the Indo-European Telegraph in Teheran. 
From the Persian capital to London the telegraph is a pri- 
vate enterprise ; from Teheran through Central and Southern 
Persia to Bushire and by the Persian Gulf, to Kurrachee and 
the chief centres of India, the wires belong to the Indian 
Government. There is an arrangement by which the Shah's 



THE INDO-PERSIAN TELEGEAPH. 1 ^3 

Government has the use of a wire in Persia. The mainte- 
nance of this telegraph engages a considerable staff, of which 
the local director is Major Murdoch Smith, R.E., who, with 
much advantage to the British public, has bestowed some of 
his leisure hours in collecting specimens of the ancient art- 
work of Persia, with funds provided by the Council of the 
South Kensington Museum. Many of the articles which are 
now in the Museum were kindly shown to us by Major Smith 
in the neighborhood of Teheran. In the work of the Persian 
telegraph, he is assisted by a staff of superintendents, inspect- 
ors, and clerks, whose health is cared for by three medical 
men, the chief of whom, Dr. Baker, is resident in Teheran, 
his two colleagues being placed, one in Ispahan, the other in 
Shiraz. The testing -stations, most of which we visited in 
passing through Persia, are generally placed about a hundred 
miles apart, and the chief duty of the clerks at these stations 
is to correspond at stated hours in morning, afternoon, and 
evening with the men on duty at the stations on either side, 
in order to see that no break has occurred in the line, and 
that all is in good working order. If the connection is bro- 
ken, the native horsemen attached to each station are at once 
sent out to ride along the course of the wires till they reach 
the fracture. As the break must be known to two stations, 
the horsemen are sometimes sent out from both, and meet 
where the repair is needed. The fracture of the wires by de- 
sign or malice is of very rare occurrence ; but they are bro- 
ken now and then by bullets. Persians are ambitious of skill 
in rifle-shooting ; and in the plains, where natural targets are 
scarce, they find in the earthenware insulators of the tele- 
graph a most inviting object. Sometimes the poles are over- 
thrown by storms of wind, and sometimes the wires are bro- 
ken and the poles borne down to the ground by the weight 
of frozen snow which collects in thick, icy bands from pole 
to pole. We w^ere much indebted — as every English trav- 

9 



194 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 

eler by the same path must be— to the Government officers 
of the Indo-Persian Telegraph. 

One of the most interesting persons whom we met with in 
Teheran was the Rev. Kobert Bruce, the only English mis- 
sionary—in fact, the only English clergyman in Persia. He 
is stationed at Ispahan, and we accepted an invitation to stay 
in his house during our visit to that central city of Persia. 
When we met with Mr. Bruce in Teheran, he was returning 
from England to his duties in connection with the Church 
Missionary Society. In the Persian capital he w^as in great 
request for the baptism of the babies born during the long 
time which had elapsed since the visit of an English clergy- 
man. An exception to the rule of other legations, religion 
is not represented in that of Great Britain. 



A TAKHT-I-EAWAN. 195 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Teheran. — Snow in November. — Our Servant, Kazem. — Getting a Takht-i- 
rawan. — Abdullah, the Carpenter. — Preparing for the Road. — A Charvo- 
dar's "Beard." — Black Monday. — Trying the Takht-i-rawan. — Loading 
the Caravan. — Servant's Merchandise. — '■'■ Zood! ZoodV — Leaving Tehe- 
ran. — The Road to Ispahan. — Seeing the Khanoum. — Shah Abd-ul-Azim. 
— Moollahs on the Road. — On to Kinaragird. — The Great Salt Desert. — 
Pul-i-delak. — A Salt River. — A Negro Dervish. — Salt-water Soup. — A 
Windy Lodging. 

I WAS slowly recovering from a fever — taking quinine, as 
every one does at some time or other in Persia — when we 
determined to set out for Ispahan. Ah-eady the snow was 
creeping down the mountains, and seemed, in spite of the 
noonday sun, to be firmly established for the winter within 
about two thousand feet of the plain of Teheran. Though 
the days were hot, the nights were becoming cold. 

The first thing was the construction of a takht-i-rawan. 
Servants brought in reports of takht-i-rawans for sale. A 
khan had one to dispose of, in which two of his ladies had 
just arrived from the sacred city of Meshed. I went to look 
at it. Through the narrow streets, between brown walls of 
mud, I followed two of the khan's servants to the outskirts of 
Teheran. In a small yard, surrounded by walls, half of which 
lay in a dusty heap under the takht-i-rawan, I examined the 
conveyance. It was coarsely decorated with somewhat inde- 
cent figures ; it had no windows, was simply a box, like an 
elongated Saratoga trunk, built on two long poles, and had 
seen so much service that it was none too strong for a jour- 
ney of six hundred and fifty miles to Shiraz. The French 
Secretary of Legation heard of our want. His wife had just 



196 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

arrived from Astrabad in a takht-i-rawan, but the poles of his 
conveyance were decidedly rotten. It was better to have one 
made, even though we must leave it, after thirty days' jour- 
ney, in Sbiraz. To travel in a takht-i-rawan from Shiraz to 
Bushire is well known throughout Persia to be impossible. 

Among the servants in the household of Mr. Lsessoe was 
one Kazem, who urged us to engage him for the journey to 
Bushire, and presented a written character from the Hon. 
Evelyn Ellis, whom he had accompanied in the same journey 
two or three years before. Mr. Laessoe very kindly consent- 
ed, and we at once placed this bright-eyed, active, intelligent 
little Persian at the head of our arrangements. In all things 
Kazem did his part well. His first business was to introduce 
a carpenter, to be instructed in the most improved plan of a 
takht-i-rawan. Abd-ullah was the carpenter introduced by 
Kazem. We were told that Kazem was sure to have made 
an arrangement, after the manner of Persian servants, with 
Abd-ullah, by which the latter was to give him ten per cent, 
upon the price. This is no doubt the way in which Persian 
servants increase their gains ; but it does not come to much. 
The method is well known, and it is probable Europeans 
would not obtain articles at a lower price if they purchased 
for themselves. The carpenter, though the picture of abject 
humility, as he stood at the edge of our carpet with meekly 
folded hands, was a well-dressed man : his turban was of spot- 
less white, his robe of red, his trousers blue. Together we 
set out to see the takht-i-rawan at the British Legation, which 
was better than the native carriages in that between the seats 
it had a well, like that of a European carriage, for the feet, 
drawers beneath the seats for stores, and glass windows. 
Abd-ullah looked it carefully over, notched its measurements 
on a piece of stick, and entered into an agreement to make 
one like it for a specified sum, money to buy wood being paid 
at once. 



PREPARmG FOR THE ROAD. 197 

This is quite usual in all transactions. When he came to 
the iron-work, he wanted money to buy the iron. No trades- 
man seems to have any capital, but every one has a seal, 
Avhich, after most careful scrutiny of every letter, he will affix 
to agreements and notes of advances. Persians are fond of 
written agreements, and these seem more common than in 
England, where no one would think of having an agreement 
for so trifling a piece of work. I drew up an agreement in 
Eno'lish for the buildins: of the takht-i-rawan ; it was read to 
Abd-ullah by an interpreter of the Legation, and the carpen- 
ter, with many bows, almost prostrations, sealed it, and re- 
ceived part of the sum agreed to be paid for the carriage. 
He had bound himself to complete the takht-i-rawan in nine 
days. During this time, we ransacked the bazaars for stores 
and equipment of all sorts. " You are neither of you strong 
enough for such a journey," said the good medicine-man of 
the British in the Persian capital. " The cold, snowy blasts 
are such as you can not conceive from English experience; 
and your lodging will be the most wretched, and exposed to 
the same temperature, to say nothing of the dangers of the 
road, especially for you, who have no English-speaking serv- 
ants, and who can not talk Persian." We laughed at his 
fears, and told him we had made some progress in Persian ; 
could ask for horses, and for any sort of food ; that we had 
tracings of the route enlarged, and marked with the name 
and distance of every station. At his suggestion, our iron 
stirrups were covered with thick felt of camel's hair, to pre- 
vent the risk of frost in the feet ; and we bought felts, nearly 
half an inch thick, to nail up in the door-ways of the unpro- 
tected hovels in which we must sleep. Among a score of 
other things, Kazem strongly recommended a bag of picked 
and broken walnuts mixed with gi-een raisins. We had 
double counterpanes, thickly lined with cotton wool. Our 
kind friends, Mr. and Mrs. Lsessoe, ordered the baking of half 



198 THKOIJGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

a dozen large loaves of bread in English fashion; and when 
the takht-i-rawan was built, we sent to the bazaar for a mule- 
teer. Up came a man seated on a leggy little chestnut horse 
— a " yaboo," as these much - enduring and sure-footed ani- 
mals are called. This is the special name for the horse of 
a charvodar. Sometimes it carries a traveler, sometimes the 
muleteer himself, and at other times it bears a load of goods, 
and, with jingling bells attached to every part of its harness, 
gayly leads the caravan. This charvodar was a short, old 
man, with sunken eyes and gloomy, fanatical aspect. His 
beard, his hands, and his feet were dyed deep-red with khen- 
na. He hitched his waist-belt of camel's hair rope, straight- 
ened his long, loose robe of blue cotton, and salaamed when 
he saw us standing in the door-way. He sat on his " yaboo " 
inside the door while we discussed the proposed journey. 
" The sahib wants to go to Ispahan ?'' said our friend. " In- 
shallah " ("By tlie will of Allah !") was the reply of the char- 
vodar. "He wants horses and mules." — "I have horses and 
twelve mules, but I can load any the sahib does not want 
with merchandise." 

At last the price was settled — so many krans for each ani- 
mal, the two in the takht-i-rawan to be paid for as four; and 
then came the question of advance and security. "My beard 
is in your hands," said the charvodar, meaning that if we ad- 
vanced money after he had sealed an agreement, we could 
punish him if he did not go. " IS"©," urged our friend, in 
the Persian phrase ; " the sahib's beard will be in your hands, 
and you may go off to Ispahan : leave saddle-bags and cloths 
as security, and then we shall have your beard in our hands." 
He was sitting on saddle-bags, which he at once threw down 
as a pledge of service to Kazem. Then as to the time of de- 
parture, we declared that we must set out on Monday ; but 
the charvodar said " No," he would not go on Monday. He 
was quite ready, but it was not a lucky day. He would go 



TRYING THE TAKHT-I-EAWAN. 199 

on the afternoon of Monday, and put up for the night at Shah 
Abd-ul-Azim, whose shrine is held sacred by all Persian trav- 
elers. But " it was not good," he said, to begin a journey on 
the morning of Monday, and as we determined to reach Ki- 
naragird— a distance of eight-and-twenty miles — on the first 
evening of our journey, we sent him away. Another came 
— a tall, dark man, with bare, hairy legs showing beneath a 
short green tunic. He had a skull flattened like that of a 
wild animal, and a step like a camel, so long, and noiseless, 
and untiring. Equally inexorable as to Monday, we agreed 
with this man to start on Tuesday, the 23d of November. 

The next work was to try the mules in the takht-i-rawan, 
which was declared, on handling it, to be a very heavy one. 
We had already purchased harness, which for a takht-i-rawan 
is of peculiar construction, provided with very strong sad- 
dle straps and stout hooks of iron, w^hich are passed through 
rings upon the extremities of the shafts of the carriage. The 
Persians never lift all together, as European laborers are 
taught to do, and the consequence is that half a dozen men 
are required to do the work of two. All called loudly on 
"Allah" as they lifted the points of the front shafts to tlie 
back of a mule. The hooking was accomplished with diffi- 
culty, while the carriage rested on the iron-shod points of the 
rear shafts ; the second mule was then placed between them, 
they were lifted and hooked, and the takht-i-rawan w^as then 
fairly arranged. But the motion was violent, for the hinder 
mule resented the position of his face against the back boards 
of the carriage, and kicked out until I feared the harness 
would give way. Yet he was compelled to move on, for as 
his hoofs plunged wildly in the air, he was dragged awk- 
wardly forward by the front mule, who of course knew and 
could see nothing of his colleague's objection, and soon there 
were concert and progress. Of course the experiment inter- 
ested half Teheran ; and when the charvodar expressed, in the 



200 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAN-. 

Persian equivalent, that the mules " went beautiful," which 
was the declared opinion of Mr. Thomson's servant, who was 
passing, there was a highly enthusiastic and gratified crowd 
to witness the performance. 

Where are all the things to go ? I look with dismay at 
the baggage while we are waiting for the mules at sunrise. 
The back seat of the takht-i-rawan, to be occupied by my 
wife, is padded with a wool mattress, which covers the back 
and sides, and is held in position by straps at the corners ; 
pillows and a rug are used for cushions, and on the opposite 
seat the rest of the bedding is secured in cotton bags. But 
there are bedsteads and boxes, tables and camp-stools, mat- 
ting and carpets, and a heap of pots and pans. Kazem has 
been marketing, and has bought half a sheep, a quantity of 
potatoes (such as in England would be given to pigs), some 
large onions, huge turnips, coarse carrots, and enormous cab- 
bages. There are, besides, some mysterious packages, which 
he confesses are merchandise. He is going to do a little 
trading on his own account by the way, at our expense as 
regards his time, and as regards the carriage upon the backs 
of our mules. The extra weight is not great, and his excuses 
are so well made that we readily forgive him. The practice 
is very common with Persian servants, and has this advan- 
tage : that when it is known to their master they can never 
grumble about the trouble of loading, nor complain if their 
seat is not quite comfortable, though to make it uncomfort- 
able would appear difficult; for if they are raised by saddle- 
bags and bundles to an awkward height above the mule's 
back, they seem to be just as happy. The load is well se- 
cured, the softest things placed on the top, where the rider 
sits, his legs swinging on either side with all the regularity 
of a pendulum. 

It is, as I have said, eight-and-twenty miles from Teheran 
to Kinaragird, and, traveling as fast as possible — that is, three 



MEETING A COFFIN. 201 

and a half miles an hour— we could hardly get there before 
sunset. ^^ Zood! zoodP'' ("Quick! quick!") we called to the 
chattering servants and muleteers. At last the takht-i-rawan 
has received the English lady, who from north to south in 
Persia is always an object of the deepest interest to the 
population ; and the charvodar, with his abominable whip of 
iron chain girded round his waist, leads out the first mule 
by a halter. We straggle after the takht-i-rawan, a string 
of loaded mules and riders, surrounded with servants, some 
mounted and others on foot, the servants of the house attend- 
ing us, in Persian fashion, not only to the door, but for some 
distance toward the gate of the city. After going with us a 
few hundred yards, they kiss our hands, accept a present, and 
depart, salaaming most impressively. 

In Persia, travelers by caravan rarely or never set out alone. 
It is the established rule for some of their friends to accom- 
pany them, if only for a little way. It is well at such times 
to avoid sneezing, or falling, or any other thing which the most 
superstitious of muleteers can interpret into a bad omen. 
Sometimes these men will take days to recover from the sad- 
dening effects of a maladroit sneeze. On our path to the Is- 
pahan gate of Teheran, we met a coffin in a way which, I be- 
lieve, was not exactly as it should have been. I do not allude 
to the arrangement of the dead body, which seemed indiffer- 
ent almost to carelessness. It was inclosed in a long, light 
box very much like those in which French eggs are shipped 
for England, and the whole, covered with white cotton, was 
slung across the back of a mule, and swung, sometimes high, 
sometimes low, with the motion of the animal. In some parts 
of Persia caravans are met with, conveying dead bodies to the 
sacred soil of holy cities for interment. Before the Turkish 
Government declined to receive such imports, the road from 
Teheran through Bagdad to Kerbela was much frequented 
by these mortuary caravans, and the work of embalmment 

9* 



202 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

was either imperfect or imattempted, for the smell of these 
funeral processions is described as having been most horrible.. 

The gates of Teheran are a reality, and the belated traveler 
may knock in vain ; but the walls in the direction of Ispahan, 
as well as in that of Kasveen, are, f or the most part, not walls 
nothing but heaps of earth thrown from a trench. The Is- 
pahan gate, like most others, is faced with glazed bricks, col- 
ored blue and yellow, the main structure being surmounted 
with quaint pinnacles of no particular shape, which have, after 
the manner of all high buildings in Persia, short, thick poles 
standing out at right angles, the ends built into the brick- 
work so as to support a ladder. Looking back at Teheran, 
as we pass through the gate, we can see nothing but dried 
mud, and all is of the color of dried mud. The plane-trees, 
still green with lingering leaves, rise over houses of which 
nothing is seen but the bare, blank walls. If the Persians 
were African savages, the general aspect of their chief town 
could hardly be more barbarous and wretched. 

There is, of course, no road outside the gate; there are 
tracks leading over the plain in every direction. Like most 
of the Persian plains, that in which Teheran is situated is 
stony; and, in the direction of Ispahan, mules and camels 
have trodden clear of stones eight or ten, and in some places 
fifteen or twenty, parallel paths. Into these we turn, on leav- 
ing the gate, the charvodar leading the front mule of the 
takht-i-rawan, and one of his assistant gholams bringing up 
the rear, his chief business being to see that no part of the 
load of any of the baggage mules fails off and is left in the 
desert. 

Now and then one of the mules bearing the takht-i-rawan 
stumbles, and the carriage is shot forward, to the very great 
discomfort of the occupier. It is common, when caravans 
meet on the plains, to indicate, by holding up the hand, to 
which side the indicator will direct his troop; and those 



SEEING THE KHANOUM. 203 

whom we met appeared, when they reached us, to be happy 
or unsuccessful, according as they passed upon the open or 
closed side of the takht-i-rawan. The desire to see a " feran- 
ghi " lady is, however, always mingled with an evident feel- 
ing that prying is both impertinent and imjDroiDer. An En- 
glishman may do much as he pleases in Persia. He must be 
very faithless before people will hesitate to take his word as 
the best security — as much better surety than any fellow-coun- 
tryman can offer. An Englishman is obeyed and honored 
in the same way, but the English lady is a puzzle. The Per- 
sian can not quite comprehend the union of what he acknowl- 
edges to be severe propriety with exposure of the charms of 
face, and with a manner kindly and gracious toward men of 
all nations. 

At noon we are three farsakhs * from Teheran. We have 
been rising gently, and can still make out one or two colored 
domes amidst the green trees, an oasis in the desert-like plain 
we are traversing. Behind the city rise the Elburz Mount- 
ains, with snowy summits all along the ridge, from the per- 
petual white of lofty Demavend to the point where the hills 
slope to the Karij Palace. All around, indeed, are mountains 
and hills, glistening w^ith snow or brown with arid surface 
beneath the glaring sun. The hills are lowest of all before us 
in the distance, which we must surmount before sunset. On 
our left, the groves of Teheran seem extended to include the 
shrine of Shah Abd-ul-Azim, the gilded cupola of which shines 
brightest of all objects in the landscape. There is a ruined 
hovel on the plain, which casts a sharp shadow. In this Ka- 

* I have spelled this word as it is pronounced. It is sometimes spelled 
"parasangs" — the Persian measure of distance, varying in our experience 
from three miles to four. A farsakh is, by some who are well acquainted 
with Persia, held to mean an hour's journey for a loaded mule, which would 
account for the farsakhs being shorter in a difficult country than upon the 
plains. 



204 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN. 

zem has already arranged a seat and spread a carpet. The 
takht-i-rawan is unhooked and lowered, a work which engages 
every hand, and the mules drink at a stream, which is the jus- 
tification of this point in the plain as a stopping-place. The 
muleteers have a luncheon of bread and a poor sort of cream- 
cheese. Kazem produces a bottle of good wine and a cold 
fowl, which looks as if it had been carried round the world 
since it was cooked, after a life of semi-starvation. Our horses 
and mules wander where they will, which is not far ; and at 
the end of half an hour, at a sign from us, the caravan is 
made up. 

Miles before us, when we resume our journey, near the 
foot of the hills we are approaching, there are black specks 
like flies on the plain, some twenty or thirty, which are evi- 
dently loaded mules. We overtake them at a ruined build- 
ing, a crumbling caravanserai, in which they are going to rest 
for the night. The mules are carrying two moollahs, their 
wives, and households ; the animals belong to our charvodar, 
who wishes us to stay under this ruined mud-wall, over which 
lizards are coursing in scores. The accommodation is per- 
haps as good as we shall meet with at Kinaragird. If this 
had been our first excursion in Persia, we should have been 
astonished at the suggestion of such a lodging as this, which 
was only better than the open plain, inasmuch as there was a 
ruined wall which, if it had been provided with gates, would 
have been an inclosure. We had, however, been advised to 
stay nowhere but in the chapar-khanahs marked upon the 
chart which Mr. Preece, of the Telegraph Service, had kindly 
made out for us in Teheran, and therefore determined to push 
on across the hills to Kinaragird. It was certainly an advan- 
tage that we could not fully understand the language in which 
the charvodar and all our train vigorously expressed their 
objections. We, however, refused to give way, and drove the 
caravan onward over the brown hills, which were \vithout a 



ON TO KINAEAGIRD. 205 

sioja of veo'etation. But afterward we had reason to believe 
that the distance was farther than that marked upon our 
guide map; and when we looked down from the summit of 
the hills upon the Salt Desert in which the station at Kinara- 
gird appeared a distant dot, it was gilded with the rays of 
the setting sun ; and in Persia there is no twilight. Just at 
this moment my horse refused to move, which the charvodar 
explained was owing to the discomfort of the English saddle, 
to the pressure of which he w^as unused. I had therefore to 
walk nearly two farsakhs into Kinaragird, which we did not 
reach until the moonlight was our only guide upon the bor- 
der of that immense desert, which extends for hundreds of 
miles to the confines of Afghanistan. We had entered upon 
the Great Salt Desert of Persia, which occupies part of the 
centre and a great portion of the north-east of the country, 
in which there is no vegetation or good water. We had 
to cross a corner of this very desolate region, in which we 
should not see a tree or a blade of grass for days. The sur- 
face of this desert is in many places so thickly incrusted with 
salt that it looks as if there had been a slight fall of snow in 
these spots ; the streams are brackish and unwholesome, nei- 
ther good for man nor beast. There is no fire-wood. Our 
mules carry sufficient for our^o^ au feu until we shall have 
reached the place where in the desert there are a few dried 
camel-thorns, of which some Persian boy will collect a don- 
key-load for half a kran. At Kinaragird the water was bare- 
ly drinkable ; the next day it would be worse. 

No imaginary picture can exceed the desolation of the 
scene on any part of the road between Kinaragird and Haus 
Sultan, our next stopping-place. ISTot a drop of water for our 
animals from morning till night; not a shadow in which to 
escape fi'om the glaring light. In the morning the mirage 
played before us, dividing the mountains from us by the sem- 
blance of a lake. To watch the changing forms of this illu- 



20G THEOIJGH PEESIA BY CARAVAX. 

sion was our only pastime. On the third evening we reached 
Pul-i-delak, a station like the others, where there was nothing 
but the chapar-khanah and a caravanserai. At Kinaragird, 
our bala-khanah had doors, though in these there were holes 
large enough to put one's hand through; but at Pul-i-delak 
there were no doors, and, when we entered it, every corner of 
our apartment was visible from the plain. We had to close 
it up with our hangings of thick felt, but the openings were 
so numerous that we were forced to borrow empty sacks 
from the charvodar. From the chapar-khanah the ground 
sloped to a stream, of which the w^aters were yellow as those 
of the Tiber after a heavy flood, and nauseous with a flavor 
of sulphur and Epsom salts. The river had once been cross- 
ed with a substantial bridge, but now four of the brick arches 
were broken and ruined, and the roadway severed. Xobody 
minds. The consequence is that in winter, and whenever 
there is much water, every caravan has to go about a mile 
out of the way, in leaving or approaching Pul-i-delak, up or 
down the stream to a suitable ford. 

At the river I met one of our gholams bearing a pitcher of 
this fluid for our consumption, and had no pleasant anticipa- 
tions of the soup or tea to be made with it. The. mooUahs 
and their party, with one or two other caravans, had arrived 
at the caravanserai, the door of which I passed in returning to 
the chapar-khanah. There was a group of Persians lounging 
about after the day's journey; they were eating pomegran- 
ates, walnuts, and raisins. Two of them advanced toward 
me, both with the palms of their hands held together before 
them as people would do who were trying to carry water 
without a vessel. One held in this way a small pomegran- 
ate, and the other about two dozen raisins, which they pre- 
sented to me. We entered the caravanserai together. In 
the door-way sat a dervish, a negro, ugly and fierce, who at 
this hour of sunset was proclaiming continually in loud, harsh 



A WINDY LODGING. 207 

tones, the greatness and the unity of Allah, the all-powerful, 
the merciful. He spit, and cleared himself visibly, and most 
impolitely, from the contamination of my presence; and 
when I smiled and bowed, pretending to receive his curses as 
blessings, his exjDressions of disgust were violently renewed. 
Inside, there were the usual scenes and noises ; in two or 
three arches, a clatter and chatter of women and children, 
hardly concealed by suspended carpets ; in another, half a 
dozen muleteers sat around the precious blaze of a single log, 
which warmed their evening mess of bread and sour goat's 
milk. In the centre, the donkeys brayed, the mules rolled, 
and occasionally fought, all of course carrying their heavy 
pack -saddles, and some noisy with the discordant music of 
suspended bells. In the caravanserai I heard Kazem's cry, 
" Sham, sahib .^" (" Dinner, sir !") and, w^ondering how soup 
made with the water of the Pul-i-delak River would taste, 
mounted to the bala-khanah. 

At night-fall the cold was so great, the wind so piercing, 
that I had to make excursions in search of big stones to place 
upon the ends of our doors of camel's -hair cloth. But the 
wind drives in all directions through our little chamber. If 
any poor were so lodged in such a night in England, the 
"boasted civilization" of our country would be upheld to 
scorn in journals of "largest" and "world-wide" circulation. 
But in bed, if one is neither cold nor hungry, the freest ven- 
tilation is not often hurtful, and we Avere encouraged with 
the prospect of reaching Koom next evening — one of the two 
holy cities of Persia, to which the shrine of Fatima, sister of 
the eighth Imam Reza, attracts thousands of faithful Shi'ahs. 



208 THEOTJGH PEKSIA BY CAEAYAX. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Koom. — Approach to the Holy City. — The Golden Dome. — Koom Bazaar. 
— The Governor's Procession. — The Itizad-el-Dowleh. — Mirza Teki 
Khan. — Disgraced by the Shah. — Order for his Assassination. — The 
Shah's Contrition, — A Visit to the Governor. — A Coat of Honor. — 
Pipes of Ceremony. — Mesjid-i-Juma. — Tomb of Feth-Ali-Shah. — The 
Shrine of Fatima. — A Pretended Pilgrim. — Reception at the Mosque. — 
Not allowed to Enter. — A Temperance City. — Takht-i-rawan in Bazaar. 
— The Road to Sin-sin. — View from the Chapar-khanah. 

Sometimes in Western lands one is reminded of Oriental 
scenes. "This is like a bit of India," the retired proconsul 
is heard to say in Kent or Surrey. But just as there are 
some richly verdured scenes, purely English, which can not 
be matched, so there are others, always more or less arid, 
which are purely and entirely Oriental. One never can for- 
get, one will never be reminded in any part of England, of 
the approach to Koom. The writings of Orientals tell us 
that the aim of their architecture is harmony with nature; 
that their swelling domes and cupolas represent the mount- 
ains, their minarets the trees, their roofs the level of the 
plain. Perhaps in such a comparison of Oriental architect- 
ure with nature, the highest buildings are most esj^ecially 
useful in the landscape, because they assist the eye to some 
measure of the vast space which is a chief element of the un- 
doubted beauty of such a scene. 

For days we had traversed a plain of unvarying brown ; 
and even the muleteers, to whose untiring tread all ground 
seems alike, broke into songs as they approached the holy 
city. " Jffans^7, manz-i-i-i-l " (rest, rest), they chanted, rolling 
the word in the dirge -like monotone of Persian song from 



APPROACH TO KOOir. 209 

one to the other, from end to end of the caravan. The mules 
quicken their pace at sight of the green trees, where even 
they seem to know that the thirst of days may be quenched 
in sweet waters. 

The golden dome which covers the remains of the Imam's 
sister, shines the central point of the scene. The town lies 
flat on the plain, but it is set like a gem in a wide surround- 
ing of hills. To the right, as we approach, the hills appear 
red, not with passing sunlight, but with natural color ; and 
behind the town, high above its domes and gardens, are 
mountains, literally of all colors — snowy at their highest, red 
and green at their lowest ranges. Nearer, the scene is still 
more interesting. In the outskirts of the town there is a 
pyramid fifty feet high, the outer surface resplendent with 
blue-glazed bricks. This is the tomb of Feth-Ali-Shah, and 
it is only one of many curious monuments in Koom. Nearer 
still, and much of the beauty has suddenly vanished. We 
are amidst the realities of ruined walls of mud-brick ; we are 
enveloped in dust ; the miserable bala-khanah, with blackened 
walls and broken doors, is before our eyes, and we are on the 
edge of the river — the cloaca of Koom. 

We were prepared to stay two nights in the holy city, and 
it is worth while to nail towels over the holes in the doors, 
and to "glaze" the windows with linen, so that within we 
may have a little light and less wind. While this is being 
done, we have sent a servant to the governor with a letter 
from the Sipar Salar, or Grand Vizier, as Mirza Houssein 
Khan is sometimes styled. 

As usual, I perform my evening toilet upon the open roof 
of the stables, protected from observation from without by 
the mud parapet. From this elevation I can look down into 
the shallow river and across the bridge, where the road pass- 
es at once into the shade of the bazaar. This is the main 
thoroughfare, connecting the two capitals of Persia ; and to 



210 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

pass with a horse or a camel through the bazaar of Koom in 
the busiest hours of the day is no easy matter. But it has to 
be clone, and in the doing of it, without doubt or question, 
the weakest will go to the Avail. That is the way in Persia. 
An unprotected woman, or a peasant driving a bargain, or his 
donkey, such are pushed away by the servants of some great 
man, tumbled over on to the fruit or cotton stalls bordering 
the narrow path which, in front of many of the shops, espe- 
cially those in which cotton prints are sold, is further con- 
tracted by one or two high stools, on w^hich purchasers may 
sit through the slow process of settling the price of their 
bargains. As a rule, the shop-keepers are silent, but the 
place is full of noise. A dervish clad in white, his face en- 
circled with long black hair, screams eulogies of Houssein, 
supposed to be peculiarly acceptable when the Mohurrem is 
drawing near. A half -naked peasant rattles his scales, and 
shouts aloud the praises of his grapes ; a water-seller clashes 
brass cups together, the noisy exhibition of his vocation ; and 
beggars clamor for relief in the hoarse voices of age and the 
treble of childhood. 

I have sent word to the governor that I will follow the 
grand vizier's letter immediately. The bazaar is intricate, 
but our servants are very intelligent, and I am soon at the 
entrance to his residence. It is a small brick arch, through 
which two men could not easily walk abreast ; the way is 
cumbered with dust and ruin ; at about fifty feet from the 
outer door there is a rectangular turning into a small yard, 
which is heaped with broken mud-bricks, over which the path 
mounts and falls. I was making my way through these mis- 
erable precincts of the governor's palace, when a man entered 
on the scene, evidently the herald of a procession. He Avas 
silver stick in waiting, and bore a large staff topped with 
heavy ornaments of silver. I stood aside in the ruined yard. 
The superior servants and secretaries followed him, two and 



ITIZAD-EL-DOWLEH. 211 

two, after the manner of our stage in Shakspearean revivals. 
At last appeared tlie governor himself, dressed in a gold- 
braided robe of cashmere. He was a young man, with an 
appearance of great refinement and of feeble health. We ex- 
changed salaams, and I gathered from his highness's Persian 
that he had just sent servants to the chapar-khanah with or- 
ders to present his salaam, and to say that he would be happy 
to receive me the next morning "two hours after the sun." 

In Persia, all time has reference to sunrise. Caravans start 
two, three, or four hours " before the sun," and visits of cere- 
mony are frequently paid, as the Governor of Koom proposed 
in my case, two or three hours after sunrise. I joined his 
highness in the f)rocession, and walked beside him to the gate, 
where, as is usual before the houses of the great, there sat a 
dervish, a man of wildest aspect, with long, black hair falling 
upon his shoulders. He was dressed in white, from turban 
to his bare feet. He shouted " Allah-hu !" while the govern- 
or's procession was passing, and scowled at me with most ob- 
vious disgust, appearing extremely offended at the civility 
with which the prince governor shook hands and expressed 
his hope of seeing me in the morning. 

The Governor of Koom is a great personage, to whom the 
Shah has given the title of Itizad-el-Dowleh (the Grandeur of 
the State). He is married to the eldest daughter of his maj- 
esty, the Princess Fekhrul Mulook. Her highness has also a 
title from her imperial father ; she is addressed as " the Pomj) 
of the State." It is easy to see that the Itizad-el-Dowleh has 
neither vigor, energy, nor ability, and that the advantages of 
his natural good-breeding are wasted by excesses, such as Per- 
sian viveurs most delight in. He owes his position, his title, 
and his wife to the contrition of the present Shah for having 
consented to the murderous execution of his father, the Mirza 
Teki Khan, the great Ameer-el-Nizam, w^hose conduct as com- 
mander-in-chief of the army and acting grand vizier, in the 



212 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN". 

early part of his majesty's reign, is referred to by Persians 
with unbounded pride and satisfaction. They speak of Teld 
Khan as having been honest, as having had no itching palm 
for public money or for private bribes — a political phenom- 
enon, therefore, in their eyes. The handsomest and largest 
caravanserai in Teheran is, as I have said, named after him ; 
and over the Ameer's tomb in that city the repentant Shah 
has built a structure, the blue dome of which is one of the 
most prominent features in the general aspect of Teheran. 

In his high station, he was of course the object of jealousy 
and hatred ; enemies intrigued against him, and represented 
to the young Shah that Teki Khan not only held himself to 
be greatest in the empire, but that the Ameer-el-Nizam boast- 
ed of his personal security as guaranteed by the Tsar of all 
the Russias. The Shah listened unwillingly, for Teki Khan 
was high in favor and repute, and was his majesty's brother- 
in-law, having been recently married to a sister of the King 
of Kings. But Nazr-ed-deen was versed in the traditions of 
his house. All men say he is a true Kajar, and his dynasty 
won and has retained power by killing, or rendering impo- 
tent, by blinding or maiming, any who are suspected of ri- 
valry. 

Teki Khan was disgraced, and sent away from the sight 
of " the Shadow of God ;" but it was long before the Shah 
would consent to his being put to death. Day after day his 
enemies urged that he should be disposed of, and suggested 
the sending of assassins to the country palace near Kashan, 
in which he and the princess, his wife, were living, with or- 
ders to kill him in his own apartments. The Shah hesitated ; 
he had some affection for his sister, who was devotedly at- 
tached to her distinguished husband. The princess believed 
that Teki Khan's life was in danger, and never quitted his 
side, knowing that her presence was his chief security. At 
last his enemies spread a report that the Tsar intended to in- 



ORDER FOR ASSASSINATION. 213 

terfere, and to obtain from the Shah an assurance of the safe- 
ty of the Ameer. The plot was now successful. The Shah 
was told that the Russian envoy was about to demand that 
the person of Teki Khan should be inviolable, and it was art- 
fully represented that this would render the Shah contemjDti- 
ble in the eyes of his subjects, who, in their anger, would prob- 
ably depose or murder himself. He was persuaded to give 
his consent to the immediate assassination of Teki Khan, in 
order that his death might be accomplished before the Rus- 
sian envoy applied for audience. 

The Shah gave way, and the murderers set out with glee 
to take the life of the ex-minister, who had been so great a 
benefactor to his country. Their only remaining difficulty 
was in detaching the princess from Teki Khan, and this they 
accomplished by stratagem, representing themselves as bear- 
ers of returning favor from the Shah. Teki Khan received 
them alone, expecting to hear that his imperial master was 
once more his friend. But he was quickly undeceived. Yet 
these emissaries of " the Shadow of God " were no hireling 
assassins, anxious to finish their job with fatal dagger in the 
quickest possible manner ; they were men who had come, with 
true Persian cruelty, to enjoy personal and political revenge 
in watching the long-drawn agonies of their victim. They 
seized and stripped Teki Khan, cut the arteries of his arms, 
and then stood by and beheld, with gloating, his encounter 
with death. 

Time quickly brought the truth to light, and the Shah felt 
guilty of the murder of the noblest of his subjects. His maj- 
esty had two daughters ; his sister, the widow of the Ameer, 
had two sons. The four children were betrothed in marriage, 
and the penitent sovereign pledged himself to regard the wel- 
fare of the boys he had made fatherless. So it happened that 
the elder had become his majesty's son-in-law and Governor 
of Koom, with power to keep for himself the surplus of the 



214 THROUGH PERSIA BY GARATAX. 

results of taxatioD, after paying into the imperial treasury the 
sum at which the province of Koom is assessed to the reve- 
nues of the State. 

On the morning after I had seen his highness, at " one hour 
after the sun," which at that season was eight o'clock, I heard 
a noise of arrival, and stepped out fi*om the mud hovel, which 
was our only apartment, on to the wide roof of the stables 
of the chapar-khanah. Four of the governor's servants, splen- 
did in costume and armory, had arrived, to be my escort to 
the palace. Our way led through the crowded bazaar, and 
the servants, who marched before me, did all possible honor 
to the occasion by the most offensive rudeness to the people. 
I threatened to lead the way myself if they did not cease from 
pushing the women and men alike aside, sometimes knocking 
them down upon the traders' stalls, in their zeal to exhibit the 
importance of their master and of his visitor. 

Xo one complained, and in no case was there apparent 
even a disposition to return their blows ; for the violent man- 
ner in which they pushed and drove the people with their 
sticks frequently amounted to assault. "Away, sons of a 
burned father !"' '*Away, sons of dogs I" they cried, belabor- 
ing the camels and asses, which were slow to perceive the 
necessity of clearing the centre of the path for our passage. 
There may be some alleys in the East End of London with 
entries as mean and dirty as that of the palace of the Itizad- 
el-Dowleh ; but, then, in London the path is not choked, as 
it was at Koom, with bits of sun-baked clay, and with heaps 
of dust, contributed in part from the breaking-up of the mud 
cement with which the walls are plastered. 

The white-clad dervish spit, with unconcealed disdain, as I 
entered; and on emerging from the passage into a court-yard, 
in which were placed a square tank and a few shrubs, there 
was a crowd of about thirty servants and hangers-on, who 
bowed with that air of grave devotion which is a charm of 



A COAT OF HOKOE. 215 

Persian manner, and followed toward the mud-built house, a 
single story high, which bounded the court-yard on the far- 
ther side. The rooms of Persian houses very rarely have 
doors, and a curtain of Manchester cotton, printed in imita- 
tion of a Cashmere pattern, was hung over the door-way of 
the Itizad-el-Dowleh's reception-room, which was not more 
than fifteen feet square. 

His highness looked very uncomfortable in his coat of 
honor, which, I believe, was a present from his imperial fa- 
ther-in-law. It is common in Persia for the sovereign to send 
a coat when he wishes to bestow a mark of favor; and, of 
course, if the garment has been worn by " the Shadow of 
God," the value of the present is greatly enhanced. The 
State coat of the Itizad-el-Dowleh was made from a Cash- 
mere shawl, of which the ground was white. The shape was 
something like a frock-coat, except that it had no collar, and 
the waist was bunched up in gathers, which gives, even to 
w^ell-made men, an awkward and clumsy appearance. It was 
lined throughout with gray fur, resembling chinchilla. Ui^on 
his head he wore the usual high black hat of Astrakhan fur. 
His black trousers were wide and short, after the Persian 
manner, allowing an ample display of his coarse white socks 
and shoes. He rose from an arm-chair, which had probably 
formed part of the camp equipage of a Russian officer, and 
on his left hand there were ranged three similar chairs — fold- 
ing-chairs, with seats of Russian leather. The walls and ceil- 
ing were whitewashed, and the floor, as is usual, covered with 
the beautiful carpets of the country. The governor's chair 
and mine were placed on a small Austrian rug, which was 
probably valued for its glaring stripes of green and white ; 
the farther corners of it were held down by glass weights, on 
the under side of which were photographic portraits of the 
Emperor Napoleon III. and of the Empress Eugenie. 

The Itizad-el-Dowleh could speak a few words of French, 



216 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

and understand simple phrases in that language ; but he had 
never been in Europe. While we were exchanging civilities 
in French, two servants were brewing tea upon the floor with 
a steaming samovar. The infusion was sweetened in the pot, 
for Persians are of one mind in the matter of sugar, and in- 
variably like as much as the water will hold without ceasing 
to be fluid — that which chemists call a saturated solution. 
The tea was served on metal trays of Persian design, in pret- 
ty cups of French porcelain, with lemons cut in halves ; and 
afterward pipes were brought in, the live charcoal which was 
laid upon the damp tobacco being 'blown occasionally by the 
servants until the tube reached the mouth of the smoker. I 
refused, and tlio jeweled mouth-piece of the flexible tube was 
then presented to the governor, the water-bowl of the kalian 
being held by a slave, while his highness languidly inhaled 
the smoke. 

I am sure that my dislike for tobacco was not unwelcome 
to any one of the grandees of Persia. To a true Mussulman, 
it is very disagreeable to place in his mouth the tube which 
has just quitted the lips of an infidel; and I have heard of 
Persians of rank being provided with a double mouth-piece, 
so that, after fulfilling the hospitable duty of presenting the 
pipe to a Christian guest, they could unobserved slip off the 
piece from which he had drawn the smoke, and enjoy the 
second without defilement. The feeling which leads English 
people to wipe the brim of the loving-cup before passing the 
goblet to a neighbor has no place in the Persian mind. The 
governor knows perfectly well that the pipe from which he 
draws a few puffs of smoke will be finished by his servants ; 
and indeed a kalian is always tried after it is lighted by the 
pipe -bearer, who, if necessary, keeps it alight by smoking 
until his master is ready for it. The pipe is always followed 
by black coffee, thick, strong, and sweet, the quantity served 
to each person never exceeding the medical dose of " two 



MESJID-I-JUMA. 21 7 

table-spoonfuls," in china ciii3S without handles, which, in the 
houses of the great, are usually secured in metal egg-cups of 
gold or silver, studded with turquoises and garnets. After 
the coffee one looks for leave to go — to obtain permission to 
retire ; a word which, in Persia, is always supposed to be given 
by the greater person, whether the visitor or the visited. 

In Persian fashion, the governor placed himself and all his 
power at my disposal ; but I found it impossible to make him 
understand that at the suggestion of Mr. Ronald Thomson, 
the very able secretary of the British Legation in Teheran, I 
wished to see as much as could be permitted of the sacred 
buildings of Koom. We sent for the clerk of the Indian Gov- 
ernment Telegraph, which has a testing station in Koom ; 
and with his help it was arranged that the Itizad-el-Dow- 
leh's servants should take me to the Mesjid-i-Juma, the oldest 
mosque in Koom, to the tomb of Feth-Ali-Shah, and that I 
should enter the door-way of the golden-domed mosque of 
Fatima, and look upon — for it could not be expected that an 
infidel should approach — the shrine of that sacred sister of 
the most holy Imam Reza. 

The two servants who were appointed to lead this excur- 
sion looked as if they had been chosen for their strength; 
they were two of the largest, most powerful men I had seen 
in Persia. The Mesjid, or mosque, of Juma was very like the 
mosque of Kasveen, but rather more decayed and dilapidated ; 
and from this we passed quickly to the tomb of Feth-Ali- 
Shah, which was in the outskirts of the town. The tomb is a 
parallelogram,in shape like many which were erected in En- 
glish church-yards a hundred years ago. It is a simple struct- 
ure of brick, covered with very beautiful tiles, with brown 
letters raised in high-relief on a ground of blue, not much un- 
like the samples of this work which have been procured for 
the South Kensington Museum by Major Smith. Over the 
tomb there is a small building or mosque. 

10 



218 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

From the resting-place of Feth-Ali-Shah, I returned through 
the centre of the town toward the grand mosque containing 
the shrine of Fatima. I expected difficulty there. Koom is 
renowned throughout Persia for devotion to Islam and for 
hatred of infidels. ISTot long ago, an Armenian doctor was in 
imminent danger, from the fact that he, a Christian, had en- 
tered this mosque in disguise. It appears that he had in this 
way been successful in seeing the Caaba at Mecca ; and this 
success had, no doubt, made him contemptuous as to danger 
from the fanaticism of Persia. Clothed as a pilgrim, he had 
entered the mosque we were approaching; and having seen 
the shrine of Fatima, was leaving the building. He met with 
a moollah in the door-way, and could not refrain from boast- 
ing of his success. " There is not much to see here," he said, 
and compared it with Mecca. The priest's suspicions were 
aroused ; he told the by-standers that he believed the sanctu- 
ary had been violated by a Christian, who had committed the 
graver offense at Mecca. The anger of the people grew hot 
and hotter by talking together; and at last a crowd rushed 
down to the chapar-khanah, where the pretended Moslem was 
staying, in the mud hovel which we occupied during our stay 
in Koom. He was warned just in time to save his life by 
flight over the back wall of the post-house. 

My appearance in the court -yard of the mosque caused 
great excitement. Along the sides of the inclosure, w^hich is 
nearly half an acre in extent, there are seats, upon which idlers 
of the " Softa " class, and beggars, with no pretensions to 
learning, but with abundant fanaticism, were sitting. Most 
of them rose at the sight of my procession, which w^as mak- 
ing directly for the main door of the mosque. In the centre 
. was the usual tank, around w^hich were ranged a few shrubs 
in wooden boxes ; the golden dome of the mosque rose, glit- 
tering and grand, in the foreground. In the door-way hung 
a heavy chain, festooned in such a manner that none could 



EECEPTION AT THE MOSQUE. 219 

euter without a lowly bending of the head ; and behind this 
stood a black- bearded moollah, wearing a huge turban of 
green — the sacred color — and next him I recognized, with a 
sense of coming defeat, the wild - looking dervish who had 
cursed and frowned at me from the door-way of the govern- 
or's palace. His face now wore an expression really ter- 
rible. 

The tv/o gigantic servants of the Itizad-el-Dowleh, who led 
the way, mounted the steps, and, standing outside the chain, 
informed the priest that it was the governor's wish that I 
should be allowed to enter so far as to be able to see the 
shrine and the surrounding tombs. The moollah replied with 
an angry negative, and the dervish supported him with wild 
gesticulations. The servants pushed forward, evidently think- 
ing that I should demand the fulfillment of their master's or- 
der. But to force a passage appeared to me not only very 
dangerous, but unjustifiable ; and, from all that we had seen of 
Persian mosques and shrines, I doubted if the contents of this 
mosque were sufiiciently interesting to warrant the slightest 
risk or disturbance. Clearly, too, the moollahs were stronger 
in this matter than the governor. Already a crowd watched 
the altercation, and every man in it could be relied on to sup- 
port the moollahs, while in the crowded bazaar close at hand 
they had a reserve of force willing and eager to do the work 
of fanaticism — a force which could destroy any other power 
in Koom. I ordered a retreat ; and, lest the servants should 
not understand my words, beckoned them to quit the door- 
way. Fortunately I had learned to beckon in the Persian 
manner. I had noticed that when I held up my hand and 
waved it toward my face in the European way, our servants 
did not understand this direction. The hand must be turned 
downward, and the waving done with the wrist uppermost. 
This was the sign I made in the court-yard of the mosque at 
Koom. Our position in recrossing the long court-yard was 



220 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

not very enviable ; in Persia the vanquished are always con- 
temptible ; but there were no unpleasant manifestations. 

In Koom we found it impossible to refill our empty wine- 
bottles. Something stronger than the Maine Liquor Law 
prevails in this sacred city and in that of Meshed, where the 
brother of Fatima is buried. Intoxicating liquors appear to 
be absolutely -unattainable, and intoxication is accomplished 
by fhose who desire that condition with bhang, or opium. 
That which can be purchased anywhere in Koom, cheaper 
and of better quality and manufacture than elsewhere in Per- 
sia, is pottery, for which the town is famous. The water- 
bottles of Koom are seen all over Persia. The clay, when 
baked, is fine, hard, and nearly white, and the potters have a 
specialty in the way of decoration. They stud the outside 
of their bottles with spots of vitrified blue, like turquoises, 
in patterns varied with yellow spots of the same character. 
The effect is very pleasing. In the bazaar of Koom we 
bought three delicious melons, each about a foot in diameter, 
for a kran, the value of tenpence in English money. 

The muezzin was shouting "Allahu akbar," and the call to 
the day-break prayer, when our caravan set out for Pasangan, 
the next station south of Koom. There is difficulty, as we 
afterward found, in the passage of a ship of three thousand 
tons burden through the Suez Canal; but there is much 
greater difficulty in passing a takht-i-rawan through the ba- 
zaar at Koom at about seven o'clock in the morning. What 
wdth the opposing stream of traffic and the anxiety of all to 
see the English Jchanoum, the operation was most difficult. 
After enduring many collisions wdth loaded camels and 
mules and donkeys, we escaped from the crowd of black hats 
and brown hats, green turbans and white turbans, and were 
once more in the open plain, where the only variety occurred 
in the fording of water- courses which crossed the path be- 
tween artificial banks raised for the purpose of irrigation. 



VIEW FROM CHAPAE-KHANAII. 221 

We thought we had never beheld a more lovely sunrise 
than that in the faint light of which we left the chapar-kha- 
nah of Pasangan. Above, yet near to the horizon, having a 
clear space beneath it, there hung a dense dark cloud. In a 
moment this was infused with rose-color; then it became a 
floating mass of gold, increasing in splendor until the arisen 
sun passed behind it, and over all was gloom. Through the 
day we rode across the dusty plain to Sin-sin, a mud-built 
chapar-khanah and caravanserai, so entirely the color of the 
plain that it was difficult, when there was no shadow, to see 
the buildings before we were close to the walls. When the 
usual operations of sweeping out the bala-khanah and cover- 
ing the doors and windows with hangings had been perform- 
ed, the carpets laid, our beds set up and made, the table 
spread for dinner, I sat, as usual, on the roof, avoiding the 
smoke-holes. Through the clouds rising in one of these holes 
I could see Kazem tending his stew-pots in an atmosphere 
dense with smoke, and unendurable to any but those who are 
accustomed to sit on the ground. Outside, the scene was, as 
always, charming ; as always of magnificent extent, and as in- 
variably bounded on every side by mountains. In the plain, 
toward the town of Kashan, a few patches of softest green, 
the wheat crop of next year, were the only vegetation. Be- 
fore us, distant two days' march, lay the snowy outline of the 
highest mountain pass in Central Persia. Cold and clear in 
the fading sunlight, it seemed very near; and the black, ser- 
rated outline of the lower ranges against the silver sky gave 
that aspect to the landscape which, while it fills the mind 
with melancholy, is accepted as most beautiful. 



222 THEOUGH PEKSIA BY CAEAVAN. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Kashan. — Visit to the Governor. — Kashan Bazaar. — The Governor's House. 
— The Governor on Railways. — Tea, Pipes, and Sherbet. — A Ride round 
Kashan. — A House pulled down. — Present from the Governor. — Presents 
from Servants. — Manna. — Leaving Kashan. — Gabrabad. — Up the Mount- 
ains.— A Robber Haunt.— Kuhrud. — In the Snow. — A Persian Interior. 
— A Welcome Visitor.— Kazem as a Cook.— The Takht-i-rawan Frozen. 
—Pass of Kuhrud.— Soh.—" The Blue Man."— Beauties of the Road.— 
Province of Ispahan. — Moot-i-Khoor. — Ispahan Melons. — Village of Gez, 

Eaelt in the morning of the last day in November we left 
Sin- sin, and rode toward Kashan, which lies beneath high 
mountains. About two in the afternoon we arrived in the 
court-yard of the telegraph-office, where Mr. ISTicolai, an Arme- 
nian, gave us hospitable welcome. His house, extraordinary 
as a building having a second story, though the upper floor 
was so ruined that no part was habitable, stands at the com- 
mencement of the town, beside a broad road, horribly rough 
as to pavement, within a hundred yards of the entrance to 
the bazaar. No picture could give an adequate conception 
of the appearance of such a town as Kashan. There are hov- 
els in the County Meath hardly more comfortable, though far 
less roomy, than the flat, square boxes, plastered with mud 
and broken straw, in which the Persians dwell. But in West- 
ern countries the roofs of the houses give variety of outline 
and of tint; in a town like Kashan, all is of the dusty color 
of the road. 

Immediately upon our arrival, we sent a servant at once 
to the hakem, or governor, with a letter of recommendation 
from the grand vizier ; and very soon an answer was returned 



THE BAZAAR OF KASHAX. 223 

that the governor was waiting to receive me. Two led horses 
and five servants followed the governor's letter, and, mount- 
ing one, I gave the other to Mr. Nicolai, who was kindly will- 
ing to act as interpreter in my interview with the governor 
of Kashan. 

The town is famous for saucepans and scorpions. A hun- 
dred wooden hammers were ringing upon as many copper 
pots and pans when we entered the bazaar, the governor's five 
servants clearing the way in the usual unceremonious fashion. 
The brass and copper work of Kashan is useful rather than 
ornamental. Some of the pans and kettles are engraved with 
rude ornament ; but although this is the Birmingham of Per- 
sia, there is no lavish bestowal of labor on any of the produc- 
tions of Kashan — no elegances in metal- work such as may 
be purchased in Ispahan or Benares. The bazaar of Kashan 
has a vaulted roof of stone, from which the noise of the sauce- 
pan-makers resounded so loudly that conversation was impos- 
sible. Other alleys were devoted to more quiet industries. 
In the East the carpenters and turners make no small use 
of their toes. Being always barefooted when at work, and 
seated either on the ground or upon the level platform of a 
stall or shop in the bazaar, they from childhood accustom 
their toes to such motions and functions as European fingers 
are wont to undertake ; and in bowing or ginning cotton, in 
turning or in carpentry, the toes often do the work of a third 
hand. 

The life of Eastern tradesmen, especially of those engaged 
in the comparatively inert occupations of selling groceries 
or manufactured cottons, must be very unwholesome. They 
spend their days, for the most part, seated in the perpetual 
gloom of the sunless bazaars, which are icy -cold in winter, 
and through which draughts of chilling air are always blow- 
ing. Their only fire is a pan of charcoal, upon which they 
sometimes sit, when it is covered with a perforated box. At 



224 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

Other times two or three may be seen crowding together to 
warm their hands over this lifeless fire. Very many sleep in 
their shops, and never see the sunlight except in the morning, 
or midday, or evening walk to the mosque, the court-yard of 
which is usually entered from the bazaar. Bread and fruit 
are their ordinary food; the kalian, their solace and diver- 
sion. They dread none so much as the servants of the gov- 
ernor, who are the instruments of extortion and oppression 
in the name and with the authority of the State. 

One could see all this in the swaggering, bullying manner 
of those who were leading me to the governor's house, which 
was of the usual character. Near the mud-plastered entrance 
I saw two black slaves running, each with a chair held high 
above his head, and knew immediately that these were be- 
ing " requisitioned " for the interview. About twenty serv- 
ants received me at the door, and made a sort of procession 
through the customary covered way into the customary court- 
yard, with the regulation tank and shrubs; and as many as 
could get there, including our own servants, crowded into the 
little room, about twelve feet square, in which sat the ruler 
of the province of Kashan, a man of very high and rare re- 
pute for justice and public honesty — a sickly, ascetic-look- 
ing person, dressed in a long robe of dark Cashmere, who 
rose from his chair, laid his hand upon the front of his high 
black hat, and bowed wdth grave dignity in reply to my sa- 
laam. At his feet on the floor, with hosjjitable intent, was 
placed a tray with cups and saucers, and a steaming samovar, 
the fire of which w^as occasionally blown by a squatting at- 
tendant. 

In opening a conversation at a formal interview of this 
sort in Persia, it is always expected, not merely by the great 
officer himself, but by all, w^ho w^ith open ears stand around, 
that some compliment — the more high-flown the better — will 
be given and repaid. To any traveling Englishman who is 



TEA, PIPES, AND SHEEBET. 225 

well recommended, the governor will be likely to say that he 
is proud to entertain one of the most noble and exalted men 
of the English nation, the friend of his master the Shah ; and 
the Englishman, mindful that with this man formality is every 
thin^, must do his best to combine truth with flattery in his 
reply. Reminded, probably by the appearance of an English- 
man, of Baron Renter and his proposed railways, the govern- 
or proceeded to remark, very languidly, that a railway would 
be a good thing, and would make traveUng more pleasant 
for persons like myself. I do not think he had the faintest 
idea what a railway was like, or he would probably have re- 
garded it in relation to the country and to the Persians. He 
seemed to think that a railway was something in which En- 
gUshmen liked to travel — something which peculiarly be- 
longed to them, ^o doubt in his heart he looked upon a 
railway as a machinery for bringing Englishmen into coun- 
tries where they were not wanted, and which they would not 
leave if once introduced by this mysterious and mechanical 
steam caravan. 

Mr. Nicolai remarked that there had been a band of rob- 
bers on the mountains between Kashan and Ispahan, and sug- 
gested that the governor should furnish us with a guard of 
soldiers. He said that he believed the road was safe now, 
but that he should wish to give us a guard ; that he should 
order some soldiers to accompany our caravan across the 
mountains to the next telegraph station at Soh. Meanwhile, 
the ordinary entertainment was proceeding ; the sweet tea 
had been duly served ; then pipes ; then sherbet, with ice 
and sweetmeats ; lastly, coffee. The governor, according to 
the strict etiquette of Mohammedan countries, made no inqui- 
ry for my companion : to allude directly to a visitor's wife 
would be an excess of impropriety. His excellency was sor- 
ry, so he said, that I intended to leave Kashan the next morn- 
ing. He had hoped that he might himself have shown me 

10* 



226 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAIf. 

some of the interesting sights (there were none) of the town ; 
but he thought that at least I should do well to ride through 
the streets of Kashan, and he would send mounted servants 
as a sruard of honor. 

In a Persian town few of the streets have a greater width 
than ten or twelve feet, and the way is generally encumbered 
with a dirty water-course (worn more or less deep, according 
to the elevation of the ground), and with stray bricks and 
stones from the ruins of houses. There is no town in Persia 
in which there are not probably as many houses in this con- 
dition as there are houses which are inhabited. But at the 
corner of two streets I saw, in my ride through Kashan, a 
house which looked as if it had been suddenly tumbled by 
earthquake into ruin ; and this, I was informed, had recently 
been thrown down by order of the governor. It had been a 
house of ill-fame, and had in this way been punished for its 
sins. 

After a ride round the town, I arrived at the telegraph of- 
fice, and dismissed, with pishMsh (the equivalent for back- 
shish), the large retinue with which the governor's courtesy 
had provided me. In half an hour, another procession ap- 
proached from the governor's palace. His major-domo led 
the way — a tall Persian, whose beard, dyed blue-black with 
indigo, descended near the scarlet girdle of his waist. This 
man was followed by two black slaves, in white tunics and 
turbans, each of whom carried on his head a circular metal 
tray, about a yard in diameter, on one of which there were 
six plates piled high with fruit, apples, pears, pomegranates, 
dried apricots, figs, and oranges, and on the other sweetmeats 
in an equal number of plates. This was the governor's pres- 
• ent, and by far the best part of it was the picturesque appear- 
ance of the bearers, a complete realization of a scene in " The 
Arabian Nights' Entertainments." The slaves laid the huge 
trays at my feet, and, according to custom, all held out their 



PRESENTS FROM SERVANTS. 227 

hands for money. Whenever a governor makes a present, 
which is regarded as doing great honor to the receiver, noth- 
ing less than ten krans will satisfy the servants. 

About eighteen months ago, an Englishman, who liad an 
appointment in Persia, arrived in one of the principal towns, 
and received a present of this sort from the governor. He 
gave liberal pishkish, and two days afterward there arrived 
another present ; he gave more largess ; again, another pres- 
ent came, and another, until his suspicions were awakened, 
and he discovered that none but the first had come from the 
governor; that the servants of his highness had purchased 
and presented the succeeding presents for the sake of obtain- 
ing his more valuable gifts. It is very probable it is quite in 
keeping with the general conduct of affairs in Persia that the 
governor should obtain his servants at a cheaper rate than 
others, upon the implied, if not expressed, understanding that 
they are to make what they can by oppression of the people, 
and by looking for presents in every direction. Of the dozen 
earthenware plates on the two trays, we noticed that most 
were of the familiar " willow pattern." In each there was 
a red paper, with edges cut ornamentally, and on this was 
placed the fruit or sweetmeat. Of the latter, one plate was 
filled with small circular cakes of manna. We met with this 
very nice sweetmeat in other towns, but nowhere so good as 
that we received from the Governor of Kashan. The manna 
is found, in appearance like dew, upon the leaves of the tam- 
arisk {gez^ Persian ; athl, Arabic) plant, and is collected in 
the morning with the utmost care. The ground beneath the 
bushes is swept clean, and a cotton cloth spread under the 
branches. These are then shaken, and the manna collected, 
and made, with sugar or honey and flour, into circular cakes 
about two inches in diameter and half an inch thick. Split 
almonds are sometimes set in the sweetmeat before it is baked. 

It was. warm in Kashan, except during the night, at the 



228 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

end of November. In summer this is one of the hottest 
places in Persia. Scorpions gambol in the dust. The tele- 
graph clerk said that in summer he had burned his hand by 
merely touching a bottle which had for some time been ex- 
posed to the sun. When our caravan left Kashan in the 
morning before sunrise, we had the prospect of 23assing in 
our day's ride from this climate, by an elevation of nearly 
five thousand feet, into the snows of Kuhrud, a village which 
gives its name to the highest pass, and to the highest chapar- 
khanah, in Persia. In the gray dawn we rode through the 
quiet town. As in no Persian house, except in the exceeding- 
ly rare case of a second story, is there a window visible from 
outside, no house gives light or sign of life, and the way 
was very dark and crooked beyond description. After pass- 
ing about half a dozen corners, I saw some horsemen stand- 
ing in the road-way. There was only just light enough to see 
them, in the obscurity of the walled street. Their " Salaam, 
sahib !" as I approached, suggested the fact that they were 
the escort promised by the governor. They proved the best 
guard we had in Persia — handy, docile men, strong and 
quick, ready to lift the takht-i-rawan to the mules' backs, or 
to dart away over the plains if there were a chance of secur- 
ing a partridge, a wild duck, or an antelope. 

Outside Kashan, we at once entered upon a brown, pebbly 
slope, which extended in a gentle gradient for fourteen miles 
to where the mountains rose abruptly to the snow, which lay 
white and deep upon the summit of the pass. For hours we 
toiled up this bare and barren slope, and, before we entered 
the mountains, turned to enjoy the extensive interesting view 
over the plain of Kashan, in which the brown flats of the 
town would have been hardly visible but for the trees, and 
the few domes and minarets marking the position of a com- 
munity which is regarded by Persians as immensely busy 
and prosperous, on account of the trade in hand-made pots 



A ROBBER HAUNT. 229 

and pans. About noon we arrived at Gabrabad, a ruined 
caravanserai, a notorious hiding-place for robbers. It was 
then so cold that we were glad to find a sunny spot among 
the ruins on which to sit and eat our luncheon — a fried cutlet 
of kid, which was a failure, and an omelet, in the manufact- 
ure of which Kazem was an expert. 

From Gabrabad, for six or seven miles, we mounted the 
course of a rapidly descending stream. The lady of the 
takht-i-rawan had in this part of the journey a most uneasy 
ride, for we crossed the purling stream more than twenty 
times, and the front mule slid down and scrambled up the 
banks, dragging the hind mule after him, with no regard for 
the level of the takht-i-rawan, the shafts of which were some- 
times nearly in the ground at one end or the other. In such 
a country it is not easy, with baggage mules, to make three 
miles an hour, and our pace hardly equaled that. 

The mountains rose darkly on either side up to the line of 
snow which we were approaching, '^o robber band could 
desire a more eligible field for operations. The stream of 
melted snow was a zigzag among hills any one of which would 
have concealed a large force ; and Kazem made the way more 
agreeable by riding up to me and saying, half in Persian (the 
words "good" and "bad" in Persian liave very much the 
same sound as in EngUsh), half in English, "^at?, bad, rob- 
bers ;" meaning, as he swept his hand around the landscape 
from east to west, that the country had a most evil reputa- 
tion in this particular place for insecurity. But we were 
fortunate, and the cold season was all in our favor. From 
November to April, on the highlands of Persia, caravans are 
rarely attacked. 

As we drew near the top of the mountain, the country be- 
came more oj)en ; and when our horses were treading through 
patches of snow, we were close to one of the best-cultivated 
village lands in Persia. There were well-tilled gardens ter- 



230 THEOITGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

raced up the side of the mountain, reminding us of the toil- 
some industry of Switzerland, and the neatness of the work 
was not less suggestive of the comparison. The road — for 
there was now a road between the fenced patches of tilled 
land — passed beneath overhanging boughs of walnut-trees, 
which in the time of leaf must afford most delicious shade. 
There were groves of poplar and hazel, giving promise of 
abundant fire -wood in this snowy region. The mud -huts 
seemed stronger and cleaner than those of the plains, and the 
people more active. One could well understand that these 
swarthy mountaineers could furnish terrible bands of rob- 
bers. In their work, they sprung about from crag to crag, 
and the mountains echoed with their calls to each other, or 
to their flocks of small, wiry -haired goats. This village of 
Kuhrud is said to be peopled by members of the Bakhtieri 
tribe, an unsubjugated people, feared throughout Persia for 
their wild and lawless character, and possessed of energy, as 
displayed in their agriculture at Kuhrud, which is not found 
among the people who may more truly be called Persians. 

I was so charmed with the appearance of the lonely village, 
so elevated and remote, that in passing the mosque, at the 
door of which stood the chief moollah of Kuhrud, I ventured 
to offer congratulations upon the industry of his flock. But 
his reverence received my advances in a very surly manner, 
and we passed on to the chapar-khanah, which was placed in 
a grove of fruit-trees. There was only just room between the 
door -way and a stream descending from the higher mount- 
ains to place the takht-i-rawan for the night. We were oft- 
en obliged to display this much of confidence in the honesty 
of the people, and we never suffered for it. The doors of 
the chapar-khanahs were rarely wide or high enough to ad- 
mit the takht-i-rawan, which was therefore of necessity left 
outside, in a country where it is by no means uncommon to 
rob doors and window-frames for fire-wood. The tired mules 



A PERSIAN INTEEIOR. 231 

rolled o££ to a caravanserai which was close at hand, and we 
entered the post-house, the yard and roof of which were cov- 
ered with snow and ice. Just inside the strong gates of 
wood there was the usual small, dark, cavernous chamber, 
mud -plastered within and w^ithout, lighted only by the nar- 
row door-way, in which of course there was no door, and by 
a nine -inch circular smoke -hole in the roof. Into this our 
servants and soldiers carried, as usual, the saddles, bridles, 
luggage, stores, and cooking utensils. There was the ordi- 
nary furniture — that is, a pile of wood ashes in the centre, 
and a few large stones from the bed of the stream outside, to 
be fashioned, at the pleasure of the occupiers, into a grate. 

All chapar-khanahs are more or less alike, and the only pe- 
culiarity in this was that the bala-khanah, the room above the 
gate - way, was smaller than usual. The high steps, with an 
average rise of eighteen inches, leading from the horse-yard 
to the flat roof of the stables, on the level of which the bala- 
khanah is placed, were broken, and fearfully slippery. Our 
servant had swept the snow away, and this had perhaps in- 
creased the difficulty of ascent. On the roof we had to walk 
through snow to the wretched eyrie in which we were to pass 
the night. But we thought ourselves in great luck on finding 
that the fire-place did not smoke very much, and that it was 
possible to have a fire. The room was so small that when our 
beds were set up, and our two-feet- six table extended, we 
found it necessary that one, at least, should sit on a bed. 
Wherever on the smoke-stained wall there was a trace of the 
original whitewash, we could see the scribbling of Persians. 
Those Persians who can write are very much given to compo- 
sition upon the walls of the bala-khanah ; and in a country 
where the i-enewal of whitewash is rarely, if ever, thought of, 
they thus secure for their scribbling the notice of at least a 
generation. 

Comfort, after all, is comparative ; and, spite of the snow, 



232 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

which lay deep and white up to our door-ways, and the cloths 
of pressed camel's hair, which were all that stood in these 
wide apertures between us and the inclement night, we began 
to think ourselves not in very bad circumstances when the 
blaze of the logs roared uj) the narrow chimney, and glow^ed 
on the colors of our carpets and our coverlets, which ap- 
peared of startling magnificence in a mud hovel so mean and 
earthy, w^ith walls and floor like the surface of a country road. 
The beams of the flat roof were rough, unshapen poles, cut 
from the Kuhrud wood, and laid from wall to wall, the grass 
and brush-wood, upon which the outside roofing of mud was 
laid, showing between them, with a plentiful hanging of cob- 
webs ; the whole being nearly black with smoke from the fires 
of past occupants, who had not cared to clear the chimney 
before setting light to their wood. This is very necessary ; 
for, as I have said, in Persia it is a common practice to block 
the flue with bricks or stones after the fire has been lighted 
for some time, and a body of red ashes has been collected. 

We were looking for the early arrival of Kazem with the 
"so2(/e" — which appears to be Persian for soup — when we 
heard the trot of a horse outside, and a servant announced 
the arrival of Mr. Bruce, the English missionary, whom we 
had met in Teheran, and whose guests we were to be in Ispa- 
han. Mr. Bruce has the first and most indispensable qualifi- 
cation for successful life in Persia — he is a good and a bold 
rider. When he lifted our camel's-hair door, we were sorry 
to see that his arm was in a sling, and his face badly w^ound- 
ed. His horse had fallen on a stony slope, and he was much 
bruised. The missionary was dressed as Europeans generally 
dress on the road : he w^ore high riding-boots with spurs, and 
breeches, a strong short coat with a leather waist-belt, and a 
wide - awake with a "puggree," or turban, of white muslin. 
We w^ere delighted to see him. Kazem soon produced a 
saucepan — our only tureen — half full of nearly boiling soup. 



KAZEM AS A COOK. 233 

Any other mode of bringing it to the table would have in- 
volved failure, in the icy atmosphere through which he had to 
pass. A chicken and rice came next ; and Kazem, to my sur- 
prise, declared that he had cutlets of mutton " quite ready," 
and an omelet " to follow." ' He had accomplished all this, in- 
cluding potatoes, with nothing but three big stones for his 
fire-place. His dark eyes glowed with pride as he produced 
the unlooked-for cutlets and the omelet. Like all Persian 
servants, he felt it a matter of honor, when a guest arrived, 
to have plenty of dinner, and would have thought nothing of 
"requisitioning" mutton or eggs in the village or caravan- 
serai. 

Mr. Bruce was " chaparing down," in Anglo-Persian phrase, 
to Ispahan, riding fifty to seventy miles a day. People trav- 
eling "caravan," as we were, would take more than three 
times as long as he on the road between Teheran and Ispa- 
han. He had no luggage except a small bundle, wrapped in 
a water-proof sheet, and carried on his saddle : this included 
a bag which, when he stopped for the night at a chapar- 
khanah, was stuffed with straw, and formed the usual bed of 
Europeans, Avho wish to " chapar " quickly through the coun- 
try. The chapar horse he had ridden from the last post- 
house, and that of the attendant, were put up at Kuhrud for 
the night, and would return in the morning. How merry we 
were, laughing at the dessert served in dishes of paper, at 
the service of cups for wine, and at the missionary's amusing 
stories of his life in Afghanistan and Persia ! 

It was bitterly cold an hour before sunrise, when we, in 
our warm beds, heard Mr. Bruce setting oft* for Ispahan, his 
horse's hoofs clattering on the hard frozen ground. The 
morning light showed the imperfections of our door; and 
from my pillow I had an uninterrupted view of the snowy 
exterior through the spaces in which our hangings did not 
touch the door-way. Outside, the takht-i-rawan was frozen 



234 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

to the ground, and needed the united efforts of the escort to 
detach it. The mules slipped and slid; the cold wind was 
piercing, as we rode from the village up toward the summit 
of the pass, the horses cracking at every footstep through the 
thin ice which had been formed in the night from the melted 
snow of the previous day. Up the shallow valley we rode 
for an hour between the ridges of the mountains ; no part of 
the soil was visible ; all was snow and ice. My riding-boots 
of stout leather seemed, in presence of the wind, as if they 
were made of the thinnest kid, or even muslin. The top of 
the pass is eight thousand seven hundred and fifty feet, and 
near us were the peaks of Derman, or Girghish, of Kisteh, 
and of other high mountains, the lowest of which rises to 
more than eleven thousand feet above the sea -level. Near 
the summit there was not even a track. The way to Ispahan 
lay over a rocky hill, at sight of which every body dismounted, 
and all began to scramble anyhow over the stones, the horses 
being left to their own unassisted judgment as to the way. 

At nine o'clock the sun was very hot, the path sloppy, and 
the glare upon the snow painful. Among the tops of the 
mountains we rode for some hours, making at last a very 
small descent to the telegraph-office at Soh, where we were to 
pass the night. This was, as usual, a walled inclosure, with 
a single opening, a door on the south side, near which stood 
the clerk, an Italian, and the inspector, a Scotch sergeant of 
Engineers. Both Signor Castaldi and Sergeant MacGowan 
spoke English — one Vith the accent of Tuscany, the other 
with that of an Aberdonian. They gave us a large room, 
which had a door, and clean matting on the floor, on which 
our servants quickly arranged our beds and carpets. With 
the thermometer twenty degrees below freezing-point, it was 
a drawback from the comfort of this house that, to dine with 
the kind and hospitable Mrs. MacGowan, we had to walk 
through the snowy yard. 



"the blue man." 235 

In the morning it was too cold to ride, and we began our 
journey to Moot-i-Khoor on foot. The view down the slope, 
and over the vast plain toward Ispahan, was splendid. Far in 
the distance, beyond the yet invisible city, there was another 
chain of mountains ; and through a gap in these we could see 
a hill, which Sergeant MacGowan told us (and afterward we 
proved the fact for ourselves) was not less than a hundred 
and ten miles from where we then stood. 

Of our soldier attendants, we named two, who were favor- 
ites, " the Blue Man " and " the Green Man," from the color 
of their dress; the former was particularly agile and hand- 
some. He could run up a very steep hill almost as quickly 
as an antelope, though loaded with his rifle, his pistol, and 
short sword, to say nothing of powder-flask and ramrods, 
which, in the most primitive fashion, were carried separately. 
Soon after leaving Soh, we saw him upon the craggy slope 
above our heads, and heard the report of his rifle. Down he 
came with what he called " arduk^'' a wild duck, in his hand, 
which he offered to the lady in the takht-i-rawan, and looked 
somewhat astonished at her unwillingness to handle a dying 
and bleeding bird. It is not uncommon for European travel- 
ers to forbid their guards to fire en route except at an enemy, 
and for this we heard at least three good reasons. The re- 
port of a gun may be a signal, prearranged between soldiers 
of the guard and robbers ; at all events, it informs any rob- 
bers who may be near of the arrival of a caravan, and so at- 
tracts attention ; and again, by emptying the gun, it for a 
time deprives the soldier of the use of his weapon, and in case 
of sudden attack leaves him unarmed. But I never inter- 
fered with the sporting tendencies of " the Blue Man." ISTor 
could we always be thinking of the dangers of the road. Its 
beauties were far more apparent; the rich coloring of morn- 
ing and evening light; the boundless space which, while he is 
passing, is all the traveler's own, in which he may ride where 



236 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 

he will. It is very rarely that a patch is fenced, and the oases 
in the neighborhood of villages are few and far between. 

The sun was high when we reached the plain. On the 
bare, brown wilderness there rose, about four miles off, a 
broken wall, the ruin of a chapar-khanah, and a small shrine, 
the tomb of some departed sheik. Beside these buildings we 
vv^ere to make the usual midday halt, and Kazem's mule ex- 
hibited his common obstinacy and performed his customary 
pas seul^ when required to hasten on in front of the caravan. 
The mule kicked, turned round and round, but nothing could 
dislodge the merry little Persian. At last a soldier under- 
took to drive it before him, and Kazem was soon trotting on 
to light a fire. Having brought us through the mountains 
from Kashan, and into the territory of his Royal Highness 
the Prince Governor of Ispahan, the soldiers were now to 
leave us. We gave them a present of money, with which 
they were evidently delighted, and a note to the Governor of 
Kashan stating that they had left us in safety on the road to 
Moot-i-Khoor. This I wrote at their especial request, which, 
in its urgency, reminded me of that of a Hindoo ayah, who, 
in traveling toward England, from Alexandria to Naples, was 
overwhelmed with astonishment at the sight of Vesuvius. 
When it was explained to her that the mountain was smok- 
ing from natural causes, she exclaimed, " Mem sahib, do give 
me a ' chit ' [a note] to say that I've seen it." She evidently 
felt sure that none of her own people would believe in her 
account of a volcano if she could not produce a "chit" from 
her mistress. 

The village of Moot-i-Khoor is closely surrounded by a 
high wall, above which nothing was visible but the green 
dome of a small mosque. The chapar-khanah and caravanse- 
rai were the only buildings outside the walls. I deplored the 
cold chiefly because the temperature was unfavorable for the 
enjoyment of Ispahan melons, the perfection, the ne 2^lus id- 



VILLAGE OF GEZ. 237 

tra, of fruit. It seems au error on the part of nature that 
this golden fruit, so luscious and refreshing, ripening late in 
the autumn, should be for sale when to eat a melon makes 
one's teeth chatter. But at Moot-i-Khoor, before a large fire, 
I did manage to enjoy the larger part of a melon, and carried 
the outside to my horse, who seemed to think he had not met 
with any thing so good for many a day. Upon leaving Moot- 
i-Khoor, we had but one more station before reaching Ispa- 
han ; and after riding about one farsakh, on the way to Gez, 
we passed a caravanserai three hundred feet square, which, 
though, for a Persian building, in excellent repair, was quite 
deserted. We had met with an official at Teheran, upon 
whose caravan a band of robbers rushed out from this cara- 
vanserai. We therefore eyed it with some anxiety; but 
when we arrived there was not a living creature to be seen, 
and nobody could explain the cause. One supposed it was 
left thus d-esolate because it was so near Moot-i-Khoor, and 
therefore obtained no custom ; another said something about 
evil spirits ; but to the charvodar it appeared possible — and 
his was the wisest opinion — that it had been built w^ithout 
thought of water supply, and had been abandoned because no 
water could be had at a less distance than four miles ; and, 
moreover, nothing would grow in the neighborhood. Much 
of the ground round about was covered with white salt, 
which in the morning looked like hoar-frost, and had the un- 
pleasant flavor of saltpetre. There was nothing remarkable 
or unusual at. Gez, which is only sixteen miles from the city 
of Ispahan. 



238 THKOUGH PEFvSIA BY CAKAVAN. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Ispahan. — Approacli by Road. — Suburbs of Ispahan. — A Ragged Bazaar. — 
Departed Greatness. — The Grand Avenue. — The Great Madrassee. — 
River Zayinderud. — Pipes on the Bridge. — Djulfa-by-Ispahan. — Russia 
and the Armenians. — Gate of Djulfa. — The English Missionary. — Mr. 
Bruce's House. — Armenian Women. — The British Agent. — Church Mis- 
sionary School. — Armenian Priests. — Enemies of the School. — Visit to 
the Governor. — The Prince's Carriage. — "The Eorty Columns." — The 
Prince's Anderoon. — The Shah's Eldest Son. — His Estimate of the 
Army. — Zil-i-Sultan. — His Hope and Fears. — His Court at Ispahan. — 
His Carte-de-Visite. — The Princess's Costume. 

The Persians rave about Ispahan as Spaniards do of Sev- 
ille, or Italians of ISTaples. ^'•Isfahan nisfjahdn''''. (" Ispahan 
is half the world "), says one writer ; and Hakim Shefa'ee, a 
poet of Ispahan, has taken even a higher flight. He has 
sung: 

*' The moving heaven of heavens is the father, and the towers of the earth 
the mother ; 
But Ispahan, their famous child, surpasses both the one and other." 

When we were about three miles from the city, we over- 
took a party of priests. Several of them were mounted on 
white donkeys, and some were persevering in their desire to 
see the occupant of the takht-i-rawan. While we were rid- 
ing beside them, an incident occurred which shows in a very 
striking manner how little intercourse there is between the 
chief towns of Persia, or, rather, how ill-adapted the paths 
(there are no roads) are for much traffic. A muleteer com- 
ing from Ispahan reported that, for purposes of irrigation, a 
new water-way had been banked up across the track, and at 



APPKOACH TO ISPAHAN. 239 

once we all turned into wheat-fields, and made our way round 
by circuitous courses. On the main track there were many 
bridges. But there are bridges and bridges : these were Per- 
sian bridges, of which the most common form is a long stone 
thrown from bank to bank, over which only one animal could 
pass. The larger bridges of brick were in such a state of 
dilapidation that, with less careful animals, or at night-time, it 
would be highly dangerous to cross them. The mules seem 
to know that these are traps well calculated to break their 
legs, and avoid the holes in these crazy bridges with wonder- 
ful care. 

We had heard much of Ispahan, and were dismayed at the 
wretchedness and ruin in the outskirts of the town, in the 
general view of which from the level of the plain there was 
nothing to be seen that was not of mud, except the few domes 
and towers, which rose but little above the low houses. The 
environs of Ispahan are dotted with a cordon of round tow- 
ers. These are not high, or in any way extraordinary ; and 
one would pass them with the notion that, like the village 
defenses throughout Persia, they were suitable fortifications 
against enemies who had no artillery. But these are pigeon 
towers, maintained, in the interests of the melon-gardens, for 
the guano, which, after a season of occupation by hundreds 
of pigeons, is found inside the doors at the base. Like every 
thing else in Persia, these towers are falling into decay ; and 
there are but few pigeons. Time was when there were many, 
and when the melon-growers of Ispahan paid a considerable 
rent for each tower. 

A stranger to Persian ways and means seeing us fording 
water-courses, winding round ruined walls, passing between 
miserable sheds scarcely eight feet apart, would hardly sup- 
pose that, by the most frequented route, we were entering 
the chief city of the Persian Empire. The main street of 
Coomassie was, according to the sketches of correspondents, 



240 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

hardly more barbarous thau the ragged bazaar through which 
we rode in the suburbs of Ispahan ; in fact, we were remind- 
ed by it of the picture we had seen in the Illustrated London 
JSFews of Coomassie. N'ot a few of the people were of the 
color, and almost as naked, as the Ashantees. The ragged 
roof of boughs and straw, which was intended to cover the 
way, but the result of which was to checker the path with 
patches of sunlight, was supported by saplings just as they 
were brought from plantations by the river-side, and the road 
was such as it had pleased the population to make it. Some 
used it as a sewer ; others had thrown earth from the founda- 
tions of their stalls upon it. In some places there were pools 
of filthy water, with a bed of mud, into which our horses' feet 
sunk deep; then hillocks which jerked the unwary rider in 
his saddle. There was improvement, not in the road -way, 
but in the buildings of the bazaars, as we approached the cen- 
tre of the town. We avoided the principal bazaars, owing 
to the difficulty of passing through with the takht-i-rawan. 
At last we entered by a narrow gate-way upon the grand av- 
enue, which, though itself a ruin, and in a city which is for 
the most part in ruin^, remains the glory of Ispahan. 

From near the centre of the town for half a mile this ave- 
nue slopes in straight lines to the river. Six rows of large 
plane-trees, many with signs of great age and of approaching 
dissolution, overshadow as many roads. I was about. to write 
that at the sides, along the walls, are footpaths ; but in Per- 
sia there are no footpaths, or, rather, all ways are footpaths. 
The raised paths at the side may have been specially designed 
for foot - passengers ; but in a country where there is no 
wheeled traffic, and where no one who is of the higher classes 
is ever seen far from home on foot, there are, properly speak- 
ing, no footpaths, no place in which a horse, or mule, or cam- 
el is not free to walk. The greater part of the avenue is 
paved ; but nearly a century must have elapsed since any thing 



THE GREAT MADRASSEE. 241 

has been done to repair or replace the huge stones Avhich, in 
their present disarrangement, make the road far worse than 
it woukl be if there was no paving whatever. The central 
road of the avenue is interrupted at three places by tanks, 
the masonry of which is now in ruins. These tanks hold no 
water except the stagnant rain or melted snow; and where 
the tanks occur, the long straight line of wall at the sides of 
the avenue is broken with buildings, imarets, large summer- 
houses, with two or three apartments elevated above the wall, 
covered with a timber roof with large projecting eaves. In 
this roof, as well as in the highly colored decoration, there is 
fresh evidence of the relationship between the architecture of 
Persia and that of the Alhambra of Granada. 

About half-way down, on the left hand, as we approached 
the river, we came to the Madrassee, or great mosque-school 
of Ispahan, which has the most notable dome in the city. 
The building itself is unimportant, constructed, as usual, of 
sun-baked bricks, and plastered with mud. There is some 
decoration, composed of colored bricks and tiles ; but the 
dome, seen far and wide upon the plain, is perhaps the finest 
example of tile-work, and the most lamentably striking pict- 
ure of ruin, in Persia. Originally it was covered with tiles, 
on which the prevailing colors are blue and yellow. The 
scroll-pattern is so large that it extends over two yards of the 
tiling, occupying a great number of tiles for its complete ex- 
hibition. About two-thirds of the tiling are in excellent con- 
dition ; the colors bright, the pattern regular, and the effect 
charming ; but from the remaining third, on the south side, 
the tiles have completely disappeared, and the bare bedding 
of brown cement is exposed. For generations it has been'so; 
and there is no prospect of repair. ISTo Persian seems to give 
a thought to the preservation of the buildings of the country. 

At the end of the avenue — in which the foot-fall of our 
horses and mules had that peculiar hollow sound, so melan- 

11 



242 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAJq-. 

choly and so suggestive of departed greatness — a sound sin- 
gular and solemn, which is always the reverberating accom- 
paniment of the horseman in a scene of mingled grandeur and 
decay — the roads converge to the bridge, a long, straight via- 
duct upon high, semicircular arches of brick, by which we 
crossed the river. This stream, the Zayinderud — a beautiful 
feature in the view of Ispahan — is a river w^ith no outfall. 
Prodigal of its waters from the beginning, flowing hither and 
thither u]3on the plain in half a dozen courses, wastef uUy fill-- 
ing shallow basins from which the sun carries off its waters, 
and in winter claiming a bed wide enough for ten times the 
flow, tapped at every turn, and its waters led away to irrigate 
fields and gardens, the gay Zayinderud dies in the plains to 
the east of Ispahan. 

The sides of the flat bridge are inclosed with walls about 
twelve feet high, which would shut out one of the most en- 
chanting views in Persia, if they were not pierced with small 
openings so frequent that these boundaries are arcades rather 
than walls. There are no paths or pavement — nothing but 
a level way npon the bridge. At either end, from day to 
day and year to year, there are two Persians seated on the 
ground, whom at first we supposed were placed there to re- 
ceive toll from passengers. They rose at our approach, and 
from one of the arches brought forward a lighted kalian, all 
ready for indulgence in the favorite form of smoking. They 
make this advance to any mounted passenger, and, indeed, to 
every one willing to pay a copper. The traveler, if he pleases, 
takes the pipe, and after smoking from one end of the bridge 
to the other, leaves it with the second pair of pipe-bearers. 
It is a curious way of getting a living, and reminded me of 
that poorest of all trades in I^aples, in which one member of 
the family passes the day picking up the chewed ends of cigars 
in the Via de Toledo, now del Corso, and another offers this 
choice commodity for sale at ten for a half-penny in the Marina. 



DJULFA-BY-ISPAHAN. 243 

At the farther side of the bridge the avenue is continued, 
with the plane-trees and pavement as before, gently sloping 
upward to its termination at the ruin of an imperial summer- 
house. But in the December afternoon w^e turned sharply to 
the right, among the green patches of young wheat, to where 
the suburb of Djulfa borders on the river. This is the 
Christian quarter of Ispahan — the home of about two thou- 
sand Armenians, the largest Christian community in Persia, 
Avho named it Djulfa, in fond remembrance of that other 
Djulfa upon the borders of the Caucasus, in Georgia, from 
whence came the ancestors of the present population. Per- 
haps there is not in the world any more extraordinary mani- 
festation of the sentiment of patriotism than that which is 
seen among Georgians and Armenians, the very names of 
whose countries have been w^iped out by Imperial Russia 
from the map, and whose nationality is scornfully regarded 
by the dominant power. As a mark of the insolence of con- 
quest, I have mentioned the monument in the Saski Place of 
Warsaw ; but probably there is nothing in the history of Po- 
land to equal the terms of the proclamation in which the 
Emperor Alexander I. of Russia announced to the Georgians, 
in 1801, the loss of their independence. " Ce n'est pas pour 
accroitre nos forces, ce n'est pas dans des vues d'interet, ou 
pour etendre les limites d'un Empire deja si vaste, que nous 
acceptons le fardeau du trone de Georgie ;" and the Tsar, in 
diplomatic phraseology, proceeds to add that it is in order 
to extend to them the blessing of Russian Government that 
he has conquered the people who are, without dispute, the 
handsomest in the world. 

It w^as easy to see that the Armenians of Djulfa-by-Ispahan 
are miserably poor, and that wine- shops — very rare in the 
Mussulman city — are frequent in the Christian settlement. 
One of the gates of Djulfa, the wooden frame of which was 
about seven feet six inches in height by five feet in width, 



244 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN". 

would not admit the takht-i-rawan, the top of which came 
in violent collision with the structure. We were obliged to 
unharness the first mule, and slope the takht-i-rawan to the 
ground. By this movement we Avere just able to get inside 
the town of Djulfa, of which the narrow ways are utterly un- 
kejit, as indeed is usual throughout Persia — quagmires of 
mud in the wet season, irregular blocks of frozen filth in the 
winter, and noisome dust-heaps in the summer. Through a 
small maze of mud-walls, past the Armenian cathedral, with 
its brown dome, built of sun-baked bricks, surmounted by a 
gilt cross, we approached the house of Mr. Bruce, the mis- 
sionary — the only Englishman resident in this part of Per- 
sia, where the British Government is represented by an Ar- 
menian agent, subordinate to the envoy in Teheran. The 
missionary's house is thoroughly Persian ; and from the 
street in which we set down the takht-i-rawan there was 
nothing visible except the line of mud-wall common to this 
and the adjoining houses. But unlike most Persian houses, 
the strong doors, studded with iron bolts, were, as is usual 
with Mr. Bruce's doors, standing wide open. In Persian 
eyes, the construction would indeed be faulty if any thing of 
the interior could be seen through this one opening of com- 
munication with the outer world. There is always a turn in 
the dark, covered entry. We had been met outside the town 
by one of Mr. Bruce's servants, Kalifat by name, an intelli- 
gent youth, mounted on a white pony, who could speak En- 
glish with some readiness, and w^as himself inclined to walk 
in the ways of the Anglican Church. Before the door of the 
house stood the missionary — the centre of a small crowd of his 
Armenian neighbors — no longer booted and spurred, but all in 
clerical black, with orthodox white tie, a man who deserves 
as much as any one in Persia a brief description of the char- 
acter and personal influence which he brings to bear upon so 
wide and desolate a field of action. Tall and spare, with the 



THE ENGLISH MISSIONARY. 245 

keen eye and the strong hand of one accustomed to rural life 
from childhood, frank in face, and Avith winning, well-bred 
manner, Mr. Bruce is quite an exceptional missionary. One 
sees at a glance that the man is by nature a theological sol- 
dier with a particular taste for religious warfare in the re- 
motest places of the earth. Capable of enduring immense 
fatigue, accustomed in boyhood to more or less reckless rid- 
ing in an Irish county, gentle in temper, firm and broadly 
liberal in argument, with gustatory tastes so simple that the 
worst of Afghan or Persian fare is always sufficient, a labori- 
ous scholar, already better acquainted with Persian dialects 
than any other of our countrymen in Persia, the one mission- 
ary in that empire is, in his way, a remarkable man. 

On passing through the covered entry, we came upon the 
quadrangle of his house, in the centre of which there w^ere 
bunches of the pretty little flower which at home we call 
" Michaelmas daisy," and the invariable tank. A paved ter- 
race surrounded the square patch of garden, on the side of 
which next the street were three rooms of the house. The 
first, a vaulted, whitewashed chamber, about five-and-thirty 
feet long, had two doors opening upon the narrow terrace. 
This answered to what in English farm-houses is called the 
"keeping" room — at once drawing-room, dining-room, and 
library. The missionary's books, all of them more or less 
relating to his calling, were ranged in those recesses which 
are always constructed in the walls of Persian rooms. The 
only decoration Avas a native painting of queer animals, with 
some likeness to birds, over the fire-place, upon the floor of 
w^hich there was a cheerful fire of logs. Between this and a 
similar apartment, occupied by ourselves, there was an inter- 
mediate and smaller room, which, like the others, opened 
upon the terrace, and in front of which we had always to 
pass under the sky in going from our apartment to the 
"keeping" room. On the right of the quadrangle, which 



246 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

was peril aps a hundred and twenty feet square, there were 
the kitchen offices, and a small staircase, leading first to an 
anteroom, and through that to the grand room of the house, 
which was used as a chapel. 

The Christian subjects of Mohammedan powers always 
adopt, to some extent, the customs of their masters. The 
Armenian women at Djulfa veil their chins, and expose their 
painted cheeks and dyed eyebrows. Every morning at eight 
there was a procession of these women, draped from head 
to foot in coverings of spotless white, into the missionary's 
room. The few boys and men made a louder clatter, and all 
left their shoes on the terrace outside the door before they 
entered to hear the missionary recite prayers and read the 
Bible in Persian ; and on Sunday many of these people came 
to an early service in the same langUc^ge. They were men 
and boys exclusively who attended the afternoon service, 
when the missionary read the familiar liturgy in English, and 
preached with pleasant simplicity and engaging earnestness, 
usually, however, choosing some dogma or miracle, the truth 
of which he declared in detail with much of the minuteness 
and determination of the school of Calvin. To hear and to 
appreciate the labors of Mr. Bruce expounding to converted 
Armenians the indispensable connection between "the cove- 
nant of circumcision made with Abraham" and the crucifix- 
ion of Jesus Christ, was very instructive as to the strength 
and the weakness of the teaching of dogmatic Christianity. 

The British agent, an Armenian, named Agenoor, was the 
first person to call upon us. I gave him a letter addressed to 
himself by his official chief in Teheran, and another from the 
grand vizier addressed to the Prince - governor of Ispahan, 
which I requested him to forward to his royal highness, who 
is the eldest son of the Shah. Mr. Agenoor is a respectable 
but timid little man, who seems to gain all the strength he 
has from his connection with the British Government. A 



CHUKCH MISSIONARY SCHOOL. 247 

walk through London, or a sight of the British fleet in Turk- 
ish waters, would strengthen his nerves. England is to him, 
and to many such who are placed in positions of much im- 
portance, powerful only by report, while the Mohammedan 
authority surrounds them as an existing reality, and the mis- 
ery of their fellow-Christians is before them as an ever-pres- 
ent warning. There are many disadvantages in the repre- 
sentation of Great Britain by members of the subject Chris- 
tian races of the East. 

We visited the missionary's school, in which we were soon 
afterward to take aw unexpected interest. We were nmcli 
pleased with the excellence of the teaching and its admirable 
results. The class-rooms were in a house adjoining that of 
Mr. Bruce, and very similar in construction. The school- 
master, Kalifat Johannes, was a native of Djulfa, who had 
for years enjoyed the position, to gain which is the chief mo- 
tive power in all self-improvement among these Armenians. 
He had been in India, and had there learned the art of tui- 
tion. In the Djulfa school there were, at the time of our 
visit, a hundred and thirty-one pupils, of Avhom all but three 
Mussulman children were Armenians. The poor people of 
Djulfa warnily appreciated the benefits of this school for 
their boys as a means of enabling their children to emigrate 
from poverty-stricken Pei'sia to India, from whence there 
flowed back rills of pecuniary aid to embarrassed parents in 
Djulfa. Religious conformity with the tenets of the Church 
Missionary Society of Great Britain, by which the school was 
entirel}'' maintained, was not enforced as a test of admission. 
As a matter of fact, many of the children so educated did 
find their way on Sunday to join with their school-master in 
Mr. Bruce's services, but not all ; and there were even chil- 
dren of Armenian priests among the pupils. 

The satisfaction of the people with the school was not, how- 
ever, shared by the priests of the Armenian population, nor 



248 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

by the Roman Catholic priest, who rules a dwindling com- 
munity in Djulfa. There are no fewer than sixteen priests, 
including a bishop of the Armenian Church, in this wretched 
suburb ; and all these, with their families, have to obtain a 
living, as unproductive creatures, from the piety of a popu- 
lation little above beggary. ISTaturally they are more than 
dubious as to the advantage of training the boys of Djulfa 
in schools established by members of the Church of England, 
with the probable result of making them Anglicans in relig- 
ion, and the likelihood that the flower of them, the most 
promising of the future wealth-makers of Djulfa, will leave 
the valley of the Zayinderud and emigrate to British India. 
There could be no more obvious menace to their means of 
living; and to these poor priests it is the more aggravating, 
because there is nothing that each one of them so much de- 
sires for himself as to be sent to minister to some Armenian 
flock in the land of rupees. They say that the Armenian 
bishop never sends a priest to India who does not first lay at 
his episcopal feet an offering of fifty tomans ; and if any kind 
person were to give an Armenian priest of Djulfa the sum of 
twenty pounds, it is not at all unlikely it would find its way 
to the bishop, so that the giver might obtain translation to 
India. 

For some time past, Mr. Bruce told us, the school had been 
regarded as an oftense by the priests of Djulfa, who, con- 
scious of their own political insignificance, had not scrupled 
to arouse Mohammedan feeling by denouncing the school to 
the moollahs as an English engine for the destruction of Is- 
lam. In this evil work, I have no doubt that the Roman 
Catholic priest lent a willing hand ; and perhaps it was not 
unnatural he should do so when he compared his miserable 
school with the comparatively bountiful appliances of that 
ruled by the English missionary. 

We had forwarded our letters of recommendation to the 



THE PRIJ^CE'S carriage. 249 

prince-governor, who immediately sent ferashes to the mission- 
ary's house to be my personal attendants during our stay in Is- 
pahan. It was quite in accordance with Persian custom that 
I should give them a present and send them back, as I did. 
On the day upon which the prince w^as to receive ns, more 
servants arrived, and brought news that the prince's carriage 
was on the way in order to convey my wife to visit the prin- 
cess. We knew that the gate of Djulfa, which had stopped 
the takht-i-rawan, would not admit a carriage; we therefore 
hired mules and set out, a large party, including the British 
agent and the missionary, our servants and those of the prince, 
all on horseback, surrounding the takht-i-rawan. When we 
arrived in the open fields by the river, there stood the prince's 
carriage, drawn by two white horses, the manes and tails of 
which were dyed a lively red. They had spots of the same 
color upon the forehead, which, if they had been men, would 
have given them the look of a clown at a circus. As for 
the carriage itself, in hardly any sale-yard in London could 
such a w^'etched rattle-trap be found. The lining was torn, 
and hung in large rectangular rents, and this was only the 
most striking "note" of the general condition of the vehicle. 
It was not inviting; but the anxious British agent thouglit 
the prince would be offended if " the lady" did not make use 
of the carriage. So the change was made, and my wife had 
an opportunity of learning, by painful experience, why it is 
that wheeled carriages are not used in Persia. The postilion 
set off deliglited. The barb -like horses switched their red 
tails and dashed down a steep place into the river, the car- 
riage banging about over the bowlders in the bed of the Zay- 
inderud, to the satisfaction of no one but the postilion. Ko 
doubt it was as good as any other road, and perhaps he rare- 
ly got an opportunity of displaying his powers as a chariot- 
eer. We, however, caught him, and compelled him to walk 
his horses for the rest of the way ; but even this pace over 

11'- 



250 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAYAN. 

the stones of the avenue was described by the unfortunate 
occupant of the carriage as being ahuost unendurable. 

We stopped at a mud-wall in which there was a gate, not 
large enough to admit the carriage, and all dismounted be- 
cause my wife was obliged to do so. Above the gate-way a 
patch of the mud was smooth and whitened. On this was 
painted a large heraldic lion, with his head in the rays of a 
gilded sun, the sign of Persian royalty. We had some dis- 
tance to walk to the palace through ill-kept grounds, in which 
there were many plane-trees. The low buildings of the palace, 
in the distance, were in no way attractive. They presented a 
long, straight wall toward the garden, divided in panels, cov- 
ered with fine white plaster, and decorated in fantastic pat- 
terns, colored red, blue, and yellow. About the centre of the 
grounds, there was a building which is regarded as one of the 
sights of Ispahan. It is a pavilion, the roof supported at a 
height of about fifty feet by twenty columns of wood, the oc- 
tagonal surfaces of these columns being covered with mirrors. 
The floor was of various colored marbles, and the roof, which 
was fast falling into decay, was highly colored in kaleido- 
scopic patterns. The building is known as " The Forty Col- 
umns," and was probably constructed to be used as an out- 
door throne-room for " the Shadow of God." There is in it 
an admixture of the barbaric and the taAvdry, which, together 
with the unsubstantial character of the building, are the usual 
characteristics of Persian architecture. At a distance the ef- 
fect is very pleasing, and one sees that " The Forty Columns " 
would i^lay a grand part in Persian pageantry ; but, nearer, 
the illusion vanishes. The floor is unwashed, the mirrors are 
grimy, the tall, slender columns are awry, and the roof is fall- 
ing to pieces. 

During the short time we staid at " The Forty Columns," a 
number of people, only some of whom were of the prince's 
household, gathered round us, and not a few followed toward 



THE prince's ANDEROOX. 251 

the palace. In a theocratic government, which is the real nat- 
ure of authority in all Mohammedan countries, one notes the 
mixture of democracy with absolute authority. There are 
two powers — that of Allah and that of the Shah, ruling in the 
name of Allah, and in strict accordance with his will as re- 
vealed in the Koran. In the sight of Allah, all men are equal ; 
and among men, none are great save those w^ho wield his pow- 
er. Servants, peasants, beggars, all went with us toward the 
presence of the prince. Not one of these people would under- 
stand exclusion, except as an arbitrary exercise of power ; not 
one would resent it, because he who has power may do what 
he pleases ; and if the prince had singled out any one, and 
ordered the ferashcs to give him a " hundred sticks," there 
would have been no outcry of injustice. But until repelled, 
they feel they have as much right to be in the governor's 
room as the flies which buzz about his head. 

We separated in the first court of the j^alace, my wife 
being led to the " anderoon," or harem, the women's quarter, 
while I passed to the rooms of the prince. He was not there, 
and I was received by members of his household, including 
his haJcim, or doctor, an agreeable young man, who spoke 
some French. The prince was, in fact, taking an unfair ad- 
vantage of me, and availing himself of the customs of the 
East and West. While it would have been in the highest 
degree improper for me to propose a visit on my own part 
to the anderoon, the prince, with laudable curiosity, received 
my wife there, and himself presented her to his wife, the only 
one whom he had then married. A pipe was passed round 
Avhile we waited for his highness, and those of the popula- 
tion who could not crowd into the corners of the little room 
watched us through the open door -way. It was presently 
announced that the prince was ready ; and we passed through 
another court, the doors of which were covered with cotton 
hangings, and up two high steps into a narrow passage, in 



252 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

which stood a servant supporting the hangings before the 
door-way of the room in which the Governor of Ispahan was 
seated. There was a clatter of shoes, which were left in a 
heap on the threshold, and the prince, a youthful likeness of 
his father, rose from his arm-chair to shake hands with me, 
and to place me in the chair next to himself. He has exactly 
the bold, dark eye of the Shah, which I am told is the family 
feature of the Kajar tribe ; and his face, though hardly so 
pleasing, has the same look of good-nature, with evidence of 
an unexhausted appetite for enjoyment and consciousness of 
arbitrary power. The breast of his frock-coat w^as covered 
with jewels, his waist-belt blazed with rubies and diamonds, 
and, when he resumed his seat, he Inid across his knees a 
richly jeweled sword. He had plainly placed himself for the 
occasion in full dress, and was anxious to escape from his load 
of jewels. 

Our conversation proceeded in the usual way. I said that, 
having had the honor of meeting his majesty the Shah at 
several entertainments in London, I felt very happy in being 
thus kindly received in Persia by his eldest son, who so much 
resembled his majesty. The prince replied with an unmean- 
ing flourish of compliments, and then expressed his fear that 
we found traveling in Persia very difficult. " There is no 
railway," he said, in a tone which seemed to repeat the appar- 
ent belief of the Governor of Kashan that Englishmen and 
railways were inseparable. He never said a word to indicate 
that he had seen my wife, and that he had just left her in 
the anderoon ; that w^ould have been a breach in the code of 
Persian manners. " Here we have every thing as from nat- 
ure," he observed, when I told him that we had enjoyed our 
journey the more because there were no railways. I spoke 
of the physique of the' Shah's soldiers. " Yes," he said, "Al- 
lah be praised, the army is very good ; my father has five 
crores [a Persian crore is 500,000] of soldiers." He uttered 



THE ZIL-I-SULTAN. 253 

this monstrous exaggeration so quietly that one could see he 
was utterly ignorant of the real meaning of numbers. He 
attributed every thing to Allah. It was Allah's will that Per- 
sia should be afflicted with famine, therefore it was useless to 
take means against it; but his father had given two or three 
millions of tomans (another tremendous exaggeration) in re- 
lief, and " now, mashallah ! there was no famine." 

The dialogue was interrupted by the appearance of a richly 
jeweled kalian, from which, after I had refused it, the prince 
drew a few puffs of smoke. It then passed away, and in the 
corridor I could see that the attendants were handing about 
this royal pipe among themselves with a freedom which is 
certainly Oriental. The prince was much inclined to talk; 
but, with one exception, I had always to start the subject of 
conversation. That exception was Don Carlos, in whose con- 
test for the crown of Spain the prince evidently took intense 
interest. He asked me how many men Don Carlos had, and 
expressed an earnest hope that this pretender would soon be 
in Madrid. I fancy there was something of a personal char- 
acter in tlie feeling he had for Don Carlos, and that he was 
thinking of himself, and of the imperial throne of Persia, 
while he followed with such curious ardor the fortunes of the 
civil war in Spain. 

This eldest son of the Shah, who is now about twenty-seven 
years of age, is known, and is always spoken of, by the title 
" Zil-i-Sultan " (Shadow of the King), a title of honor given 
him by his father, "the Shadow of God." But though first- 
born, he is not crown -prince. In Persia, the Shah names 
whom he pleases as his successor; and his majesty has long 
since designated his son by his second wife to that position, 
and has confirmed the heirship by informing the powers of 
his selection, and by making this second son Governor of Ta- 
briz, a position always held by the heir to the throne. The 
reason given for passing over the natural claims of the Zil-i- 



254 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAIST. 

Sultan is one usually accepted in Persia as quite sufficient — 
he is not, and his brother is, the son of a princess. But the 
Zil-i-Sultan is a vigorous, violent, headstrong young man, ac- 
customed from his earliest manhood to hold in his hands virt- 
ually irresponsible power of life and death — a being, in his 
own opinion, and in the eyes of his followers, superior to all 
laws ; a bold sportsman, with the ambition to be a warrior ; 
a man with abundant capacity for matching the cruelties with 
which the pages of Persian history are red ; and yet the bad 
rearing, the indulgence of untaught self-will, which has devel- 
oped his very strong natural impulses into tyrannical ferocity, 
has not bereft him of genial good-humor, the natural accom- 
paniment of high health, so evident as to win for him some 
devoted followers, and to please all to whom he wishes to be 
gracious. 

He is supposed not to acquiesce in the devolution of the 
crown upon his brother's head, and is said to have expressed 
his determination to fight for it upon his father's death. But 
his vagaries, which have been many and serious, are held to 
have destroyed any chance of success which his undoubtedly 
superior vigor might have given him. I^o man better under- 
stands that which failure involves, even upon suspicion of an 
attempt in this line. Blindness, with jaerhaps some other mu- 
tilation, or death, is the lot of rivals of the Kajar tribe when 
the successful one attains supreme power ; and in Persia it 
is not as in Europe — flight is unthought of. Outside Persia 
there is no world for fugitives of royal blood. 

While we w^ere taking coffee, I had leisure to observe the 
surroundings of the Zil-i-Sultan. At his feet sat an old mool- 
lah, one of the great religious authorities of Ispahan, who 
seemed to consider that any attention on his part to what 
was going on would be an improper subtraction from his duty 
to Islam. His bright eyes were overshadowed with a huge 
white turban ; he sat on his heels, and, I am sure, lament- 



THE PEINCESS'S COSTUME. 255 

ed, as a sign of decadence, the elevation of the prince and 
that of his visitor in chairs. Beside the prince stood his vi- 
zier, or vakeel^ a man dressed as one of high authority, and 
with a face full of intelligence and power. My servant, Ka- 
zeiUjin right of his position, had squeezed himself into the lit- 
tle room, and squatted in a corner : there were a few others, 
including the British agent, who acted as interpreter, and Mr. 
Bruce. When I rose to leave, the prince called for pen and 
ink, and wrote his name and mine on the back of a photo- 
graphic likeness of himself, which he presented to me as a 
souvenir ; and then, after shaking hands, turned to the mis- 
sionary, and desired him to remain. Intelligence was con- 
veyed to the anderoon, and my wife returned to me, attended 
by two negroes, the peculiar guardians of that place, men of 
horrible ugliness. She had been received very kindly by the 
princess, who, with bare legs, was seated upon cold pavement, 
which had but a thin covering of cloth. Her highness's face 
was painted w^ith red and black, not in tints, bu^ in large 
patches ; and though a young woman, she had that greatest 
of beauties in a Persian lady — excessive obesity. Her two 
black-eyed children were introduced, and the usual refresh- 
ments were provided. 



256 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 



CHAPTER XVIT. 

The Zil-i-Sultan. — Order about the School. — Not Eesponsible for Murder. 
— Telegraph to Teheran. — Reports and Rumors. — Excitement in Djulfa. 
— Closing the British School. — Relapse of Fever. — Letter from the Prince. 
— Persian Compliments. — Prescriptions by Telegraphs. — A Persian Doc- 
tor. — Persian Medical Treatment. — Persian Leeches. — Tlie Prince's Ha- 
kim. — His Letter of Introduction. — His Newspaper and Autobiography. 
— The Prince and the Province. — A Son of a Moollah. — "The Sticks." 
— How Punishment is Given. — A Snow Torture. — A Persian Dinner- 
party. — Before Dinner. — An Englishman's Legs. — A Great Khan. — The 
First Course. — Les Pieces de Resistance. — Going Home. 

Mrs. Arnold had such painful experieuce of the Zil-i-Sul- 
tan's carriage, that we hoped she would not return in it, and 
had sent a servant to bring up the takht-i-rawan ; but, as we 
afterward learned, the mules were not easily found, and we 
had to leave as we arrived, with my wife in the carriage. Mr. 
Bruce joined ns in about twenty minutes. I was anxious to 
know the cause of the missionary's detention. He was evi- 
dently very much disturbed. He told ns that, after I had left 
the room, the Zil-i-Sultan had said to him, in presence of the 
moollah and the vakeel, and indeed of all Avho remained, that 
his school had caused much complaint, and tliat it must be 
closed at once. Mr. Bruce asked the reason for this sudden 
order. Then the prince began a rambling statement made np 
of the accusations he had heard from all sides : the mission- 
ary had boasted of having converted a Mussulman ; there 
were Mussulman children in the school; the teachers were 
not good men ; he or they had said that the Virgin Mary was 
just like other women ; the Armenian priests had said the 
school wns doing harm in Djulfa; in short, the Zil-i-Sultan 



NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR MURDER. 257 

would not have it ; the school must be closed. His highness 
concluded by turning to the officer who had charge of his re- 
lations with aliens in religion and allegiance, and saying, "You 
see that this is done, or I'll cut your ears off." This officei-, 
whose place is an established one in the imperial system of 
Persia, bowed, and Mr. Bruce endeavored to excuse his school. 
" It is quite free," he said ; " no one is constrained to attend, 
and to the people of Djulfa it is a very great benefit." "Free !" 
shouted the Zil-i-Sultan, with a show of the native Kajar ti- 
ger — "free ! No one is free except my father and me. If I 
please that the people shall not go to school, and grow up bar- 
barians, that is my affair." He would hear no more. But 
Mr. Bruce is a persevering man, and still he argued that his 
school ought not to be closed, and intimated that he could not 
obey the order. " If you are murdered," replied tlie prince — 
with cruelly thoughtless exposure of this good man's life to 
the fanaticism of all who heard him, and all to whom his 
words were to be reported — " I shall not be responsible." 

And so the interview ended ; the fanaticism of Ispahan en- 
couraged to attack and murder the British missionary, and 
his school to be closed. It was a dangerous j)osition, not only 
for Mr. Bruce, but in a less degree for ourselves. The Amer- 
ican mission schools in Teheran and Tabriz have never been 
molested by the Shah's Government, and the missionary nat- 
urally felt most unwilling to close this, the only British school 
in Persia. We agreed that it would be best not to close the 
school until there was further pressure, amounting to force, 
from the prince; and Mr. Bruce determined that the pupils 
should be received next day as usual. We had just settled 
this when the takht-i-rawan came in sight, and on the Zayin- 
derud bridge, after enduring the pavement of the avenue, we 
dismissed the carriage, having first satisfied the clamor of its 
five attendants for "pishkish." 

On arriving at Mr, Bruce's house, we immediately arranged 



258 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAYAX. 

a long telegram to the British minister in Teheran, informing 
Mr. Thomson of the prince's order and of his invitation to 
murder, requesting that immediate steps might be taken to 
secure Mr. Bruce's personal safety and to enable him to con- 
tinue the useful work of his school. We had not long to Avait 
for evidence that the Zil-i-Sultan's rash sj^eech was known 
throughout all Ispahan. N^ext morning an Armenian came in, 
full of the news. A report^and a very accurate report — ^of 
the prince's words was circulating in Djulfa, with embellish- 
ments of Persian flavor. This man said he had heard that the 
Roman Catholic " padre," the Armenian bishop, and the chief 
sheik of Ispahan, had given the prince two hundred tomans 
as the price of the order for the closing of the school, and 
that Mr. Bruce, who is popularly regarded as a rich man be- 
cause he aided very largely in obtaining and distributing the 
Persian Famine Relief Fund, had since capped their bribe by 
the larger one of six hundred tomans, for which sum the Zil- 
i-Sultan had agreed to put three of the missionary's enemies 
to death. 

Throughout the day, many of the pupils were absent from 
the school, and by evening the order of the prince and his 
threat of " the sticks " to the parents of those who disobeyed 
were known to all. The school was nearly deserted, and the 
Christian people of Djulfa very fearful of outrage by the Mus- 
sulmans. The excitement was intense; and in the circum- 
stances Mr. Bruce thought it his duty, for the preservation of 
peace and order, to close the school. In the ordinary course 
of events, the Christmas holidays would have commenced in 
ten days; and on closing the school, he aflSxed a notice upon 
the doors announcing that the vacation would begin ten days 
earlier than usual. 

Unfortunately, I was at this time in bed suffering a serious 
relapse of fever, accompanied with the most agonizing rheu- 
matic pains. For a fortnight I could not put my feet to the 



LETTER FEOM THE PEINCE. 259 

ground. I fell ill within a few hours after leaving the palace. 
The Zil-i-Sultan had quitted Ispahan for his favorite hunting- 
grounds at Marg, a chapar-khanah in the mountains, about 
twelve miles distant. On the day after our interview, the 
controller of his palace arrived at Mr. Bruce's house, followed 
by two slaves, who carried a large antelope tied to a pole, 
the ends of which rested on their shoulders. It was the first- 
fruit of the prince's sporting expedition, very kindly sent to 
me as a present. With the venison the prince-governor sent 
a letter, in Persian, which is a very interesting specimen of 
polite letter-writing in a country where it is a breach of good 
manners not to employ compliments, and of good sense to take 
them for more than mere words. I am quite sure his royal 
highness would not object to see his letter in English print: 

"Exalted in Dignity, Companion op Honor, Mr. Ar- 
nold ! — In the first place, I write to inquire after your health, 
and am extremely desirous that your time should be spent 
happily, and that you should enjoy good health and peace, 
especially during your sojourn in Ispahan. You should, with- 
out fail, visit the ancient buildings of this place, which are the 
memorials of mighty kings who had their wars, their cares, 
and pleasures in this world, and against their wills left this 
earth and have passed away. Now, here are we remaining 
behind, and what Allah may decree concerning us — 

" It would have given me much pleasure to have remained 
in the city, that I might fully enjoy your society, for you ap- 
peared to me to be a perfect man and well-informed. I shall 
return on Saturday. 

" I should be delighted if you could come to these hunt- 
ing-grounds, and see with what difficulty and courage Persian 
horsemen strike this kind of game, for without doubt it is 
a sight well worth seeing. The chase in Persia is attended 
with much hardship, and is not as it is in Europe. 



260 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAX. 

"I send you by my servant an antelope which I have shot 

with my own liand. I hope you will eat it in company of 

friends. 

" Sultan Mazud Mirza, Kajar, Zil-i-Sultan." 

The least acquaintance with Persian habits of speech re- 
duces such extravagant expressions as are met with in the 
above letter to their proper meaning, which is simply that 
of a mere flourish of the pen. To say in Persian that Mr. So- 
and-so is "exalted" and "perfect," means nothing more than, 
or nothing veiy different from, the words in which any En- 
glishman, refusing the prayer of a humble correspondent, as- 
sures that suppliant for favor tliat he (the great man) remains 
the "faithful servant," or the "most obedient humble serv- 
ant" of the disappointed place-hunter. 

In thanking the prince for his letter and present, I did not 
feel able to allude to his arbitrary decree concerning the 
school, and soon I became much too ill to leave my bed. 
There was no English doctor nearer than Teheran on one 
side and Shiraz on the other, a ride of a week for any one 
who "chapared" hard either w^ay. We sent an account of 
my condition by telegraph to Dr. Baker, the medical super- 
intendent of the Indo- Persian Telegraph, and w^ith prompt 
kindness he prescribed by " wire." As for medicine, there 
was fortunately a small supply of that he recommended, at 
the telegraph-office in Ispahan, but he also ordered immediate 
application of leeches, and accordingly we dispatched Ka- 
zem in search of those live lancets which seem common to all 
countries. There had been a heavy fall of snow in the night, 
which lay white and deep about the doors and windows of 
my bedroom. Kazem returned with tidings of a man re- 
nowned for the application of leeches, who was to follow 
him. Presently the hakim himself arrived with his box of 
leeches, an old man with a long beard dyed a most fiery red, 



A PERSIAX DOCTOR. 261 

his eyes deeply sunken, his head covered with the drab skull- 
cap of the country ; his outer garment of sheep-skin, fitting 
loosely over a long tunic of bhie cotton; the lower part of 
his legs was bare, and almost as dark in color as the woven 
socks which covered his feet. His shoes were, of course, left 
outside the door, and his tread was noiseless as that of a cat. 
The ideas of a Persian doctor are few. He relies most 
conspicuously upon the aid of Allah, whom he invokes every 
minute, and at every step in his proceedings. He has a de- 
cided tendency to blood-letting, and a delight in strong medi- 
cines. In a morning's walk through the streets of Ispahan, 
we have often seen the snow blood-stained, as if slaughter 
had been done in these public places. Sometimes we saw, 
in passing, the actual operation, a patient extending his bare 
arm in the street for the barber's lancet. We inquired of 
several why they were thus bled? One replied that he had 
a cold ; another that he had a pain in his stomach ; a third 
that his head ached, and so on. Perhaps it may be said 
without error, that such drastic treatment, whether purga- 
tive or phlebotomic, will remove, in ninety-nine cases out of 
a hundred, the particular sensation which led the patient to 
the doctor. It is not for us to assess the amount of subse- 
quent injury or physical deterioration. The probability is 
of itself alone sufficient to account for the high esteem in 
which ignorant people hold strong treatment, a regard al- 
ways exhibited with inverse ratio to the education and en- 
lightenment of people. In a country like Persia, every En- 
glishman is tempted to play the doctor; to Persians the mere 
sight of a European seems to suggest a cry of '^JDvor! dvorP'' 
(medicine ! medicine !). We have met with sufferers from 
ophthalmia who shouted the word as they laid fingers on 
their eyes, and who turned away with disgust when we rec- 
ommended a plentiful application of water, the neglect of 
which is half the cause of that terrible and disablino; disease. 



262 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

My Persian had something of the manner of an English 
medical man, though with a gravity which does not belong to 
Em-ope. " He had seen worse cases," and " inshallah !" (God 
willing !) he would make me better. I felt interested in 
seeing what there would be of novelty in his simple work. 
He prescribed a hot bran mash to be used as a vapor-bath, 
and, before applying the leeches, provided himself with a 
quantity of the tinder of burned linen, in which he placed 
the utmost faith for stopping undue bleeding from the leech 
bites. He did his work well; came on three consecutive 
days to see how it was progressing; and when asked to 
name his own remuneration, mentioned three krans, about 
two shillings and sixpence, with evident doubt as to whether 
he was not making an exorbitant demand. 

But we were to receive a far greater medicine-man. The 
news of my illness reached the ears of the Zil-i-Sultan, who 
sent the following letter, in Persian, by the hands of his own 
hakim, a man of great renown in Southern Persia, not only 
for medical skill, but for literary acquirements. There was 
commotion at his arrival with a train of royal servants. He 
was a bright-eyed, pleasant-looking man, about six-and-thirty 
years of age, dressed in military uniform, of European cut, 
wdth the high black hat of the Persians. He had a sword 
at his side and a cigarette in his mouth. Throwing off his 
shoes at the door, he approached my couch with a low bow, 
and presented the prince's letter, which, upon translation into 
English, ran thus : 

" Exalted in Dignity, Companion op Honor, Mr. Ar- 
nold ! — God knows that on hearing continually of your ill- 
ness I have been greatly distressed for two reasons. First, 
because I saw you were a good and perfect man ; and it is a 
sad thing that such a man as you should be ill without any 
apparent cause. 



HIS LETTEE OF INTRODUCTION. 263 

"Secondly, I conld not in any wise be liapj^y that you 
should not pass your time pleasantly while you are in my 
province ; and with all lowliness of mind do I pray and be- 
seech the blessed and most high God, and those near his 
presence, to give you complete restoration to health, that you 
may leave my Government in great happiness. 

"I send my chief doctor, Mirza Tagi Khan, colonel, a man 
who has traveled, and who is skilled in home and foreign sci- 
ences, to look to your health. If you will consult him, he will 
have much pleasure in prescribing for you. This is that dis- 
tinguished individual who cured my hand when it was so bad 
that I had no hopes that any one in the Empire of Persia 
could heal it. He made that j^erfect cure which you have 
seen, and, inshallah ! he will work as wonderfully in future. 
It was with that very hand I shot the deer I sent you. 

"I long to hear of your recovery and to enjoy your society. 
As soon as you are well, I hope I shall have the pleasure of a 
talk with you. 

" Sultan Mazud Mirza, Kajar, Zil-i-Sultan." 

Tagi Khan could talk more French than any Persian we 
had met with, and we made no objection to his very simple 
prescription of quassia, which he subsequently sent in a 
queer -shaped bottle "corked" with cotton -wool. The Per- 
sians are badly off for bottles, and have no corks. The bot- 
tles they make of very brittle glass, have small mouths, and 
the cotton-wo.ol used for stopping is, when necessary, secured 
with sealing-wax. 

Tagi Khan willingly turned the conversation from my ill- 
ness to his own accomplishments. While attending the Zil- 
i-Sultan, when the prince was Governor of Shiraz, he had 
edited a newspaper, of which twelve copies had been pub- 
lished. These he had bound into a volume, of which he kind- 
ly proposed to send us a copy. He had also written an au- 



264 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAX. 

tobiography, of which he would send us a copy containing 
his photograph. Both arrived in the evening. The news- 
paper is a curiosity, in size equal to two pages of the Echo 
in its first and most prosj)erous days. Its pages contain, to- 
frether with a few telcGframs and extracts from foreigrn let- 
ters translated from European journals, nothing but accounts 
of the movements of the Shah and of the imperial family. 
It is, however, much better than nothing at all ; and when 
Tagi Khan came again to see us, we pressed him to continue 
in Ispahan the work he had begun in Shiraz. The copy of 
his autobiography is a beautiful manuscript, a mode of pub- 
lication which, having passed away from Europe, survives in 
the more ancient countries of Asia. 

The Zil-i-Sultan is worth looking at again if only because 
be is a fair type of a Persian ruler. It is impossible to be in- 
sensible to his good qualities or blind to his faults. Perhaps 
it may be said that v/hile the former are natural, the latter 
result from defective education and from the unbridled exer- 
cise of despotic authority. With the tastes of a hunter, with 
no idea of government but that of force, with no shadow of 
doubt as to the absolute right of his father and himself to 
dispose, at their pleasure, of the liberties and lives, the proper- 
ty and relationships, of every one in Ispahan ; controlled only 
by fear of exciting a fanaticism which would rise in a body 
stronger than his authority, and taught from infancy to re- 
gard the people as existing only to make wealth for the mon- 
arch and his officers — why should we look for good results 
from the absolute rule of such a man? To me the prince 
seemed a wayward, passionate youth, moved by strong im- 
23ulses, alternately good and very bad. Disliking, yet fear- 
ing, the priests of Islam, utterly untaught as to the higher 
principles of morality, such a man's standard of right is 
never erect. I can quite believe that the writer of those 
gracious, kindly letters I have quoted is at other moments 



A SOX OF A MOOLLAH. 265 

the ferocious tyrant he is said to be by the people of Is- 
l^ahan. 

Shortly before our arrival, the Zil-i-Siiltan had displayed 
some energy in opposing the domination of the priesthood, 
had sent soldiers to force a criminal from sanctuary, and had 
banished a sheik-priest who, in his capacity of judge in the 
Court of the Imam-Juma, had been guilty of horrible oppres- 
sion. When we were riding into Ispahan, we met this eccle- 
siastic on his way into exile, seated upon a white donkey, and 
attended by three moollahs. But before he reached the first 
stage out from Ispahan, he had been fetched back, and rein- 
stated by the prince, wdio had thus quickly given way to ec- 
clesiastical influence, and perhaps menace. There lived in 
Ispahan a man, the son of a moollah, well known for the lib- 
erality, as we should say, of his religious opinions — one who 
had been treated in a friendly manner by the Zil-i- Sultan, 
who is known to share his theological views. To the horror 
of the sheik-priest, this man wore clothes which did not in- 
dicate that his parents belonged to the sacred order, and fre- 
quent complaint of this impropriety was lodged at the palace. 
It was during my illness that the prince sent for this man, 
and bid him change his clothing, which his highness said was 
offensive upon one of his descent to the Sheik-ul-Islam. The 
man, eager to obey the wish of his illustrious friend, departed, 
and quickly re - appeared in orthodox costume. " Go," said 
the gratified prince, " to the sheik, and show" him how quickly 
you have, at my request, conformed to his desire." The man 
went ; but immediately upon reaching the presence of the re- 
ligious authority, he was seized and ordered to be beaten 
wdth " one hundred sticks." We were told of this in a street 
of Ispahan, and at once made close inquiry into the truth of 
the story. We found that no exaggeration had been made, 
and that the sufferer had been so cruelly punished that for 
weeks he would be unable to put his feet to the ground. 

12 



266 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

lu Persia, death or " the sticks " is tlic commonest punish- 
ment. The man, in the latter case, is laid on the ground, and, 
after his shoes and stockings are removed, his ankles are pass- 
ed through leather loops fastened to a beam, which is held 
by two men at nearly the length of his legs from the ground, 
and by them is turned until his ankles are so tightly secured 
that no writhing of his back can unplace them. Near him 
are laid the precise number of sticks to which he is sentenced. 
These are lithe switches, five or six feet long and rather more 
than half an inch thick in the centre. Two experts — who 
usually wear scarlet coats bound with black, which is the 
uniform of the Shah's executioners — then take their places 
near the beam, each armed with a stick, with which they in 
turn belabor the soles of the feet until the stick is broken too 
short for use. In the case above referred to, the beating was 
continued until the hundred sticks were reduced to this con- 
dition. The prince was annoyed at the severe punishment of 
his friend, but his highness had to bear it ; for in Persia, un- 
less stirred to unwonted effort, the Shah's Government is far 
less powerful than the chief priests of Islam. 

A European doctor, to his shame be it said, talking one 
day with the Zil-i-Sultan upon the interesting topic of tor- 
ture, suggested an ancient method which, we were told, at once 
struck the prince as applicable in the snowy region of Ispa- 
han. To draw the teeth of Jews who refused gifts to the 
Government was the practice in days when the civilization 
of England was no more advanced than that of Persia ; but I 
never heard before of stuffing a man's trousers with snow 
and ice as an efficient way of combating his refusal to pay a 
large demand in the season when the thermometer stands — 
as it does in Central Persia — for months beloAv zero. We 
were told that one day when the prince was returning from 
hunting, he met two dervishes on the road, who did not rec- 
ognize or make way for him. The Zil-i- Sultan at once 



A PERSIAN DINNEK-PAETY. 267 

snatched his gun from a servant, and wounded the unhappy 
dervishes — a story to which it would be easy to add many 
others of similar import. 

I was invited to a dinner which was to be thoroughly Per- 
sian. It was a bitterly cold evening, and the guests arrived 
mostly on mules, and all wrapped from head to foot in furs. 
At first, it does strike one as odd to be received, upon an 
occasion of ceremony, in. a room without chairs or table — in- 
deed, with nothing but a carpet. The room was high, the 
ceiling domed and painted, and upon it there was a good 
deal of gilding and stalactite ornament such as is seen in 
the Crystal Palace revival of the coloring of the Alhambra. 
There were hung on the walls several pictures of women such 
as are exhibited for view in the Palais Royal, and there were 
also one or two familiar prints from the Illustrated London 
Nevus. At a loAver level, there were some pictures painted in 
Persian style, that is, crowded with figures, no regard being 
had to perspective or to gradation of color. One represent- 
ed the miraculous procession of birds and beasts into Noah's 
ark, the rear brought up by ISToah himself, whose beard, co- 
lossal and black as a raven's wing, drew attention to the far 
background. 

The shoes of all the guests who were not European were 
outside the door ; their overcoats thrown in a corner of the 
apartment, which was at once recej^tion and dining room. In 
a rectangular recess, three musicians, sitting on the floor, dis- 
coursed strange song and music. One had a wiry instru- 
ment, resembling a small guitar ; another produced short 
screams from a sort of flageolet ; and the third, who also con- 
tributed the chief part of the vocal entertainment, had a small 
drum. In the centre of the room there was a Persian carjDet 
of many and beautiful colors : round the sides were felts, 
nearly half an inch thick, and five feet wide, upon which most 
of the guests sat or reclined. 



268 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAX. 

It is not considered good manners in the East to display 
much of one's legs upon the carpet. Mohammed, the founder 
of Islam, has been jDraised by his biographer because he never 
projected his legs or his feet before company; and we are 
told that the prophet showed his humility of spirit in never 
suffering his knees to stand out beyond those of the person 
with whom he was conversing. But an Englishman at a Per- 
sian dinner Welshes in vain for the power of fulfilling the rig- 
orous demands of etiquette. To sit on one's heels, as camels 
and Persians do, requires the training of a life-time. No one 
can assume the fashion for the first time in manhood. I 
found my legs appearing so awkward that I was glad to hide 
the exhibition with a shawl. The imposing dignity with 
which my neighbor, a man of splendid apparel and appear- 
ance, managed his naked extremities, fondling now and then 
his toes with his hands, made my legs and booted feet so very 
obvious a nuisance. This man Avore a robe of honor, of cash- 
mere, w^hich had been given him by the Shah, and underneath 
this garment, upon the junction of his green tunic and loose 
trousers of black satin, his waist was bound with a magnifi- 
cent scarf. He seemed a man of immense strength ; his face, 
full of power, was bounded on the top by his black hat, and 
beneath by a dense beard, dyed with the same color. He had 
but one tone of voice, and that the loudest in the room. He 
had, it was said, amassed great wealth from farming the cus- 
toms in all the south of Persia. I had already heard of this 
person, and had met with some account of his transactions in 
official reports. For the privilege of collecting as much as 
he could obtain under the name of customs in the port- of 
Bushire, the principal port of Persia, in the year 1873, this 
khan paid thirty-two thousand tomans, or about twelve thou- 
sand eight hundred pounds. None but his dependents are 
employed in obtaining the revenue ; there is no interference 
of any sort by employes of the Government, and no returns or 



A GREAT KHAN". 269 

rei^orts are required of any of his transactions. In these cir- 
cumstances, surely it was mild language "which the British 
resident at Bushire used in reference to this monstrous abuse 
of fiscal authority, "when he wrote to the Indian Government 
that " the system is felt to be inconvenient by traders." 

Having disposed of my intrusive limbs, I asked my neigh- 
bor on the other side something more about this man, and he 
told me it was notorious he had begun life as a robber, and 
that his greatest success in that line had been in connection 
with a royal caravan. " But," said he, " the khan has bad 
times. I met him the other day coming from Teheran, and 
he looked so miserable that I at once believed I had heard a 
correct account of his visit to the capital. He is obliged to 
pay so much every year to the imperial revenue, but occasion- 
al contributions are forced at Teheran by threats of loss of 
office, or of the sticks." 

The khan was roaring, the singers twanging, piping, drum- 
ming, and shouting monotonous love - songs, when the first 
" dish " was served. A servant walked round the room carry- 
ing a large bottle of arrack in one hand and wine in the other. 
The khan took half a tumbler of the fiery spirit, and drank it 
off without winking ; most of the guests preferred arrack. 
Another servant followed with a plate, in which was laid 
about half of a sheet of Persian bread, thin, tough, and flabby. 
Upon the bread was a heap of kababs — j)ieces of meat about 
an inch square, well cooked, and covered with the remain- 
der of the bread, which was turned over them. Each guest 
raised the bread flap, took a kabab with his fingers, added a 
piece of the flap, or wiped his fingers upon it, as he pleased. 
For three hours this was the form of the entertainment ; the 
talk and the music went on while the kababs, the arrack, and 
the wine circulated. About ten o'clock the real dinner be- 
gan. A table was brought in, a cloth spread ; bowls of sher- 
bet, piles of boiled rice, other piles of pillau, a mixture of rice 



270 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

and stewed fowls, were introduced. In one huge dish was 
placed a lamb roasted w^hole, presenting a horribly sacrificial 
appearance. I watched the khan, curious to see if it was 
possible that appetite for boiled rice remained after he had 
drunk about a pint of raw alcohol, intermixed with kababs. 
His attendants — the servants of every guest share in the work 
on these occasions — drew a couch toward the table, upon 
which the khan lifted himself ; then he pointed with a loud 
laugh to the soup-tureen, from which the British agent, an 
Armenian, was helping himself. " That's what makes you 
such a little fellow," he said. " I like pillau." He bared his 
huge arm to the elbow to vindicate his preference, and for 
the better handling of the rice. Plunging his fingers into a 
pile, he kneaded a huge bolus of the greasy rice at a single 
pinch, and pressed it into his mouth ; another and another 
followed, until he had made a great hole in the heap of pillau. 
For nearly an hour there was little talk, much eating and 
drinking ; then some coffee ; and after that the guests were 
hoisted on to the high saddles of their steady, patient mules, 
and jogged homeward through the narrow streets, lighted 
only by the lanterns of their attendants. 



ZIL-I-SULTAN AND THE BEITISH SCHOOL. 271 



CHAPTER XVIIT. 

Ispahan.— Zil-i-Sultan and the British School.— Church Missionary Society. 
—The "Crown of Islam."— A Ride through Ispahan.— The Meidan.— 
Runaway Horses in Bazaar.— "Embassador Lilies."— New-year's-eve. — 
Severe Cold.— Suiferings of the Poor.— A Supper in Ispahan.— Kerbela 
and Nedjif.— Houssein and Ali.— Imam Juma's Court.— Confiscation of 
Christians' Property.— Bab and Babis.— Execution of Bab.— Attempted 
Assassination of the Shah.— Punishment of the Conspirators.— Revenge 
of the Koran.— Bab and Behar.— Tiie Followers of Behar. 

As soon as I was able to leave my bed, I desired the Brit- 
ish agent to ask the Zil-i-Sultan for an audience, that I might 
offer some remarks upon the closing of the British school. 
The prince appeared glad to see me, and at once cleared his 
room, that we might talk more freely. I suggested that pos- 
sibly he was not aware of the character of the school, which 
I explained was not, as many Persians supposed, maintained 
by the missionary, but by a great society (the Church Mis- 
sionary Society), to which hundreds of thousands of English 
men and women, including the queen, subscribed. The En- 
glish people would not, I said, contend that they had a right 
to establish schools in Persia ; I could not question the au- 
thority of his royal highness to close the school ; but I vent- 
ured to add that this arbitrary proceeding would be regard- 
ed by England as a very unkindly act, and would do much, 
when it became generally known, to destroy all the good feel- 
ing which the liberal professions of the Shah during his stay 
in England had caused to prevail toward the Government of 
Persia ; that the English people were not ambitious of chang- 
ing the established religion of Persia was, I urged, evident 



272 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAiN. 

from the fact that the Church Missionary Society, with an in- 
come of about one hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds 
a year, exi^euded no more than a few hundreds in the Persian 
Empire, and confined all that expenditure to Ispahan. 

I did not refrain from adding that his highness's order ap- 
peared the more unjust because the Armenian Orthodox and 
the Roman Catholic schools in Djulfa Avere not molested; 
and because in Teheran and in Tabriz the schools of Ameri- 
can missionaries had been long established, and were prosper- 
ing under the immediate government of the Shah and of the 
crown-prince. 

The Zil-i-Sultan aj^peared somewhat moved by these argu- 
ments, and said he was very anxious to explain the circum- 
stances under which he had felt bound to issue the order for 
closing Mr. Bruce's school. " The Shah, my father, and I," 
he said, " are friends of education. You must do us the jus- 
tice to admit that. I am no fanatic. I mean to ask my father 
to allow my children to be educated in Europe. That will 
sliow you I am not a bigot. But Ispahan is Ispahan. They 
call it the ' Crown of Islam,' and the mooUahs are very strong 
here. I closed the school to preserve the peace of the town. 
The Armenian bishop came to me; the Roman Catholic priest 
came to me ; the moollahs complained ; they came here and 
cried ; tears ran down their faces. What could I do ? They 
said that Mr. Bruce had converted a moollah ; that he had 
spoken in the streets of the Virgin Mary as being not differ- 
ent from other women ; they stirred up the people, and I was 
obliged to close the school. But, I give you my word, it 
shall be opened again — at the proper time. I will see Mr. 
Bruce. He thinks I am not a friend to him, but I am his 
friend. I will show him how to act so as not to excite the 
moollahs." 

After taking leave of the prince, I rode for some hours 
about the streets and bazaars of Ispahan. There are literally 



A KIDE THEOUGH ISPAHAN. 273 

miles of ruins in and about the city, and of ruins that are 
never picturesque nor in any way attractive. Along the side 
of the river there is nothing but ruin. Thick walls of mud- 
bricks which have not lost their original color by exposure to 
the sun (the only baking that Persian bricks ever get), are 
broken into heaps of dusty ruin, and have remained untouch- 
ed, the home of birds and lizards. Some of the bazaars are 
well built, with lofty, vaulted roofs of stone, but of these not 
a few are deserted. I rode through these sombre, cold, de- 
serted places, the way incumbered by stones fallen from the 
overhanging roof, in momentary danger of another fall. De- 
cay, dilapidation, and ruin are never out of sight. In the 
largest oj^en place, the meidan, which is about five hundred 
yards in length and two hundred broad, there is the best 
view of the life of the city. Caravans of camels or mules, 
carrying travelers, 23ilgrims, merchandise, or supplies of fuel 
and vegetables, are always there. At one end is the Mesjid- 
i-Juma, the great mosque of Ispahan, the dome and minarets 
adorned with colored bricks and tiles. In the centre of the 
meidan is a small, circular mound, built of brick, about as 
big as half a dozen wagon- wheels piled together ; and where 
the axle would be is reared a ragged pole. This is the exe- 
cution ground, and the pole at times bears the head of a 
criminal. 

Some of the bazaars which we entered from the meidan are 
full of life and interest, crowded the whole day long. It is 
perhaps as difficult to ride as to walk through the bazaars. 
A passing donkey with a load of wood is a dangerous neigh- 
bor for the knee on horseback, and on foot the jagged sticks 
may strike one in some tender and vital place. And, then, a 
horse may be frightened, and run into a hundred dangers of 
this sort. On one occasion, I dismounted in a bazaar of Is- 
pahan to buy a fur coat; and while I was trying it on, with 
the assistance of a crowd of idlers, attracted by the sight of a 

12* 



274 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

foreigner, my horse broke away from my servant, and, with a 
loud neigh, flung up his heels, rushed at the servant's horse, 
threw himself upon it, bit it in the neck till it screamed with 
pain, and, breaking loose, started away down the narrow ba- 
zaar, my horse in furious pursuit. I was in great fear as to 
the result. Such a rout I never saw. Steady-going camels 
roared and groaned with fright; purchasers bounded on to 
the stalls for safety; several people were knocked down. 
Fortunately, no damage was done, and nobody much hurt. 
The runaways were caught before they got outside the ba- 
zaars, but they would not be held, and it was only by re- 
mounting that we could control them. 

Ispahan would look its best in April or May, when the dark 
violet lilies — called "eeZcAee soosun^'' or "embassador lilies," 
because they are the first to blossom — appear, and when the 
mud color of the town is relieved by the tender green of the 
young leaves of the plane-trees. Then, as at all times, the 
charm is not in the buildings of the city, but in its exquisite 
situation, with immensely expanded views of plain begirt 
Avith mountains. The view of Ispahan from the Djulfa side 
of the river is not easily effaced from the memory. ISTo doubt 
the great name of the city has something to do with the im- 
pression which the prospect plants upon the mind. But the 
real glory of the scene is the ever-varying color of the many- 
shaped mountains, and the indescribable, yet not less real, 
sense of freedom which is imparted by the aspect of the 
plain. 

It is difficult to enter any Mohammedan city without tread- 
ing on the graves of departed citizens. Main roads in the 
East often cross burial-grounds. Indeed, no place of sepul- 
ture is more desired than that in which there are most trav- 
elers. Fences there are none, and the tombs afford the only 
sign of burial. As with us, the grave is sometimes marked 
with a horizontal stone, and sometimes with a perpendicular 



new-year's-eve. 275 

slab. A translation of an epitaph not uncommon in the 
grave-yards about Ispahan runs thus : 

" The Lord of earth and sky is our lielper. 
The eyes of all are fixed on the Prophet. 

We need not fear the light of the searcliing sun of the resurrection, 
While the protection of Murteza Ali surrounds and covers us." 

On the last day of 18 75 we rode out of Djulfa to the great 
cemeteries on the edge of the plain. An icy wind blew over 
the frozen snow, in which most of the grave - stones were 
buried ; only on the slopes which lay exposed to the southern 
sun could the brown earth be seen. One or two peasants, 
miserably clad in cotton, covered with a ragged sheep-skin, 
were trying to get a handful of fuel by uprooting the camel- 
thorns from the desert. In the far distance some black dots 
upon the snow indicated a caravan of mules aj^proaching the 
city. The sun was dimmed with clouds, and where its rays 
did not shine there all remained hard bound wath frost. 

Anywhere in the world, for those who have money in a city 
full of people, cold is more endurable than heat. One is not 
prostrated by cold as by heat, and one recovers more quickly 
from its effects. Frost-bite is better than sun-stroke, and to 
be chilled to the bone less painful than fever. For my part, I 
would rather endure an attack by robbers than be perpetual- 
ly the prey of vermin ; but in the extreme cold of the Persian 
winter there is less danger of either pest. Both hibernate in 
the season of frost and snow. And do not the warmth and 
the pleasant blaze of a Avood fire make amends for the cold ? 
while for the heat which has fevered one's brain into sleepless 
misery there is sometimes no relief. 

But as we turn homeward from our ride on New-year's- 
eve, and pass through the walled, and narrow, and deadly cold 
streets, the deep mud frozen into hard rocks, over which our 
horses roll and stumble, we are forced to remember how little 



21 Q THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

the poor of Persia are armed against cold more intense than 
is ever felt in London. In Persia the poor have no firings 
few clothes, and little food. Of a group comprising half a 
dozen huddled round a handful of live ashes in an earthen- 
ware dish, not one had any covering on the legs between the 
ankle and the knee. Among the poorest of Persia, frost-bite 
is not uncommon. They walk barefooted, or in miserable 
shoes, in the snow ; then ride, perhaj)s for hours, their feet 
covered with half-melted snow : upon these the frost fixes 
with fatal grip, and the poor wretches, ignorantly seeking re- 
lief from their tortures at the first fire they approach, lose 
sometimes their toes and sometimes their feet. 

Happy are those who are not forced to endure extremes 
of climate : theirs is the most pitiable condition who sustain 
both severe heat and extreme cold, as do the Persians. " Tres 
meses invierno; niiene meses wjierno^'' ("Three mouths win- 
ter and nine months hell") is the saying of Spaniards concern- 
ing the climate of Madrid. But the poor of Persia suffer in 
a magnified degree the miseries of poverty in Madrid. 

For me there was organized a supper, to which every per- 
son in Ispahan who could speak even a few words of any 
European language was invited ; and the Roman Catholic 
priest had lent a bell, which, being suspended npon a tem- 
porary stand of poles, was to be made to resound the Avitch- 
ing hour of midnight by the servants of our entertainer. In 
the motley company assembled in his rooms, Armenian was 
perhaps the predominating element, and the Armenians are 
not a jovial people. The entertainment was a failure, by rea- 
son of the cold. Only one room had a fire-place, and in that 
a few damp logs fizzled, but refused to burn continuously, and 
warmth could not be obtained by drinking cold thin wine of 
Shiraz, or by egg-cups of lukewarm coffee. Hot punch would 
have relieved the iciness of the supper, but warmth was con- 
spicuously absent from the feast. And there was a mechan- 



KEEBELA AND NEDJIF. 277 

ical failure. When we were trying to make merry with cold 
meats and colder wine, news was brought that the bell had 
fallen from its perch, and we were therefore left to form our 
own ideas as to the moment of midnight. When no doubt 
remained as to that having passed, we lighted our lanterns, 
and began the work of the new year, by groping our way 
home through the unlighted streets of Djulfa- Ispahan, dis- 
turbing no one but the wolfish dogs which prowled, in pit- 
eous hunger, upon the snow. 

While we were in Ispahan, a report was spread that Ker- 
bela, where Houssein was buried, and E'edjif, where rest the 
remains of his father Ali, were to be ceded to the Shah. 
This, Avhich would naturally delight the hearts of all true 
Shi'ahs, was reported in two ways. First it was said that 
the Sultan would give up these sacred towns to Persia as the 
price of an alliance, offensive and defensive, against Russia ; 
and, again, it was said that Kerbela and Nedjif were to be 
jDurchased by the Shah from the Porte for a million of to- 
mans. One day I showed a sketch of Kerbela to our serv- 
ants and to a knot of by-standers, telling them what it repre- 
sented. Immediately the picture was in danger. All wished 
to kiss it, to press it to their foreheads, and cried "Ah, Hous- 
sein !" with an expression of deep regret, more true and ten- 
der, in the ardor of sincerity, than one expects to find uttered 
over a grave which has been closed for twelve centuries. 

There is but little expression of dissent in Persia, and in 
Ispahan orthodoxy is practically enforced by the court of 
the Imam Juma. Armenians in Djulfa have actually been 
robbed of their property by authority of this court, upon 
the representation of a renegade member of their family who 
had joined the community of Islam. Mr. Bruce assured us 
that, after he had purchased a piece of ground from an Ar- 
menian, he was cited to appear in the Imam Juma's 'court, to 
answer the complaint of a Mohammedan, who alleged that 



278 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. 

the property did not belong to the vender, but had passed 
to him, a member of the family, wlio had adopted the faith 
of Islam. The English missionary declined to acknowledge 
the authority of the court. But this defiance, which was not 
dangerous in the case of a well-known British subject, is 
quite beyond the power of his poorer Christian neighbors, 
who are naturally fearful of the courts of law, which are 
strictly governed by the language of the Koran, and presided 
over by priests as fanatical and cruel as any inquisitor of that 
European period Avhich is well described as the Dark Ages. 

The measure of injustice and oppression which these courts 
of the Koran inflict upon the Christians may seem mild in 
comparison with the treatment by which they suppress non- 
conformity within the jDale of their own community. We 
have seen an example in the sentence of " a hundred sticks," 
which the incautious expression of liberal views brought upon 
the friend of the Zil-i-Sultan, who added to free speech the 
wickedness of wearing trousers of European cut. There is, 
however, in Ispahan a surviving heresy, the most notable in 
Persia, w^hich, when proved against a man, is almost a death- 
warrant. 

Early in the present century a boy w^as born at Shiraz, the 
son of a grocer, whose name has not been preserved. Ar- 
rived at manhood, this grocer's son expounded his idea of a 
religion even more indulgent than that of Mohammed. He 
is known by the name of Bab (the gate), and his followers 
are called Babis. In 1850, Bab had established some reputa- 
tion as a prophet, and was surrounded by followers as ready 
to shed their blood in his defense as any who formed the 
body-guard of Mohammed in those early days at Medina, 
w^hen he had gained no fame in battle, and had not conceived 
the plan of the Koran. Bab was attacked as an enemy of 
God and*man, and at last taken pris9ner by the Persian Gov- 
ernment, and sentenced to death. He was to be shot. Tied 



REVENGE OF THE KORAN. 279 

to a stake in Tabriz, he confronted the firing-party, and await- 
ed death. The report of the muskets was heard, and Bab 
felt himself wounded, but at liberty. He was not seriously 
hurt, and the bullets had cut the cord which bound him. 
Clouds of smoke hung about the spot where he stood, and 
probably he felt a gleam of hope that he might escape when 
he rushed from the stake into a neighboring guard -house. 
He had a great reputation, and very little was necessary to 
make soldiers and people believe that his life had been spared 
by a genuine miracle. Half the population of Persia would 
perhaps have become Babis, had that guard-house contained 
the entrance to a safe hiding-place. But there was nothing 
of the sort. The poor wretch was only a man, and the sol- 
diers saw he had no supernatural powers whatever. He was 
dragged again to the firing-place and killed. But dissent is 
not to be suppressed by punishment, and of course Babisni 
did not die with him. Two years afterward, when the pres- 
ent Shah was enjoying his favorite sport, and was somewhat 
in advance of his followers, three men rushed ujion his maj- 
esty and wounded him, in an attempted assassination. The 
life of Nazr-ed-deen Shah, Kajar, was saved by his own 
quickness, and by the arrival of his followers, who made pris- 
oners of the assassins. They declared themselves Babis, and 
gloried in their attempt to avenge the death of their leader, 
and to propagate their doctrines, by the murder of the Shah. 
The bafiled criminals were put to death with the cruelty 
which the offenses of this sect always meet with. Lighted 
candles were inserted in slits cut in their living bodies, and, 
after lingering long in agony, their tortured frames were 
hewed in pieces with hatchets. 

In most countries the theory of punishment is, that the 
State, on behalf of the community, must take vengeance upon 
the offender ; but in Persia it is otherwise. There, in ac- 
cordance with the teaching of the Koran, the theory and ba- 



280 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

sis of punishment is that the relations of the victim must 
take revenge upon the actual or would-be murderers. In 
conformity with this idea, the Shah's chamberlain executed, 
on his majesty's behalf, and with his own hand, one of the 
conspirators. Yet the Babis remain the terror and trouble 
of the Government of Ispahan, where the sect is reputed to 
number more followers than anywhere else in Persia. But 
many of them have, in the present day, transferred their alle- 
giance from Bab to Behar, a man who was lately, and may 
be at present, imprisoned at Acca, in Arabia, by the Turkish 
Government. Behar represents himself as God the Father in 
human form, and declares that Bab occupies the same posi- 
tion, in regard to himself, that John the BajDtist held to Jesus 
Christ. We were assured that there are respectable families 
in Ispahan who worship this imprisoned fanatic, who endan- 
ger their property and their lives by a secret devotion, which, 
if known, would bring them to destitution, and probably to a 
cruel death. 



ADVANTAGE OF RUSSIA. 281 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Getting out of Persia.— Northern and Southern Koads.— Advantage of Kus- 
sia.— Russian Goods in Persia.— English Interests in Persia.— Mr. Mac- 
kenzie's Plan.— Navigation of the Karun River.— From Ispahan to Shus- 
ter.— A Subsidy required.— Price of Wheat.— East India Company's 
Survey.— Letter to Lord Derby.— Baron Renter's Concession.— Traffic 
in Persia.— Mules and Railways.— Difficulties of Construction.— Inter- 
course between Towns.— Estimates of Population.— Traveling in Persia. 
—Mountain Scenery.— Plains covered with Snow.— Persia and "The Ara- 
bian Nights."— No Old Men.— The Lady and the House.— The Greatest 
Power in Persia. 

The ways and means of getting out of Persia are especial- 
ly forced upon the mind of the traveler from Europe when 
he is in Ispahan, the central city of the empire. If he is fa- 
tigued, or not in good health, one fact will weigh upon his 
mind — he must ride, or be carried in a takht-i-rawan, for five 
hundred miles before he can be clear of the dominions of the 
Shah, or obtain any more easy conveyance. 

It is far less difficult to ride northward to the Caspian Sea 
than southward to the Persian Gulf. And as it is with trav- 
elers, so it is with goods. Nothing in the way of merchandise 
can arrive in Ispahan except on the backs of mules, or horses, 
or camels. The consequence is, owing to the easier access 
from the north and to the proximity of Russia, that Russian 
imports are pressing southward to the exclusion of English 
manufactures from the markets of Persia. 

The entry of English goods to Persia, and the export of 
corn, cattle, wool, and other products of that country, have 
been rendered much more easy by the construction of the 



282 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

Suez Canal ; but as regards the market for our manufactures, 
we shall be beaten back to the coast by Russia, unless some 
better road be opened for the conveyance of goods to Ispahan. 
Russia has a great advantage over us, in this respect, from 
the north, and the bazaars of Teheran are chiefly supplied 
with Russian manufactures. The proposal — which was noised 
as being the first large work to be undertaken upon the con- 
cession to Baron Renter — to construct a railway from Resht 
to Teheran, would, if carried out, have facilitated most ob- 
viously the entry of Russian goods, and have enabled Russia 
to command the trade, not of Teheran only, but of Ispahan, 
and probably of Shiraz. 

Of all the powers, Russia is the most ungenerous and unen- 
lightened in her tariffs. She forces her wretched hardware 
and inferior cottons upon her subjects, and her near neigh- 
bors of the semi-barbarous sort, to the complete exclusion of 
the superior goods which England could furnish ; the north 
gate of Persia is absolutely in her keeping ; and the proposal 
to carry her commerce to the chief towns of Persia by a rail- 
way, to be constructed with English gold, implied either great 
ignorance of the nature and consequences of the Avork, or an 
astounding confidence in the unselfish disposition of British 
capitalists. Moreover, we have never been able, in passing 
over the ground, to see what security could be obtained for 
expenditure in this direction. There can be no doubt that 
Russia would be grateful to any foreign capitalists who would 
make a railway from the Caspian Sea to Teheran and Ispa- 
han; but this would hardly diminish any desire she may have 
to possess the rich northern provinces of Persia ; and it is un- 
deniable that she may take them at any moment she pleases 
to put forth her hand. There is nothing but the Persian 
army to withstand her; and the railway, besides promoting 
her commerce, would render the military occupation of North- 
ern Persia less costly, and much more secure. 



ME. Mackenzie's plan. 283 

For English interests it is very necessary to improve the 
means of communication in the south ; and the best scheme 
I have met with, is that which was pressed in January hist, 
though without any success, upon the Shah's Government by 
Mr. George Mackenzie, a British mercliant, of the firm of 
Gray, Mackenzie, & Co., resident at Bagdad. The united wa- 
ters of the Tigris and the Euphrates flow past the Turkisli 
town of Bussorah into the Persian Gulf. This confluence of 
the two rivers is called the Shat-el-Arab. At right angles to 
this great stream, and nearly opposite the town of Bussorah, 
the Persian river Karun contributes its flow, the junction be- 
ing at the town of Mohammerah, the taking of which was the 
only considerable achievement of the British expedition un- 
der the command of Sir James Outram in 1856. At Shuster, 
nearly half-way between Mohammerah and Ispahan, the Ka- 
run is navigable by steamboats drawing four feet of w^ater ; 
and Mr. Mackenzie, who has lately been over the whole route, 
has reported that the passage of mules from Ispahan to Shus- 
ter would be far more easy than ujdou the difficult path be- 
tween Shiraz and Bushire. The path by which English man- 
ufactures must be carried on mules, camels, or donkeys from 
Bushire to Ispahan is very little less than five hundred miles 
in length ; whereas from Shuster to the central city of Persia 
the distance would be not more than two hundred and seven- 
ty miles. 

Mr. Mackenzie, probably the first Englishman who has 
passed over this little -known region of Persia, found the 
Bakhtiari tribes, by whom it is inhabited, better than their 
reputation, which is that of marauding gypsies. He states 
that they are hospitable, obliging, and free from caste preju- 
dices. Mr. Mackenzie says of the tribes between Ispahan and 
Shuster, "They evinced no objection to eat out of the same 
dish with me, smoking the kalian, too, at all times after me." 
He found the Bakhtiari people " ignorant of the division of 



284 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVA:N-. 

time or of distances." " Generally," he says, " they know of 
two other nations only; the Farangi [a term equivalent to 
" Gentiles," but generally employed in describing the English] 
and the Russ. To the latter they appear to give precedence, 
as I was at more than one place asked whether the Emperor 
of Russia was not the Shah-in-Shah. They are a happy and 
contented people, entirely under the control of one chief, the 
Eelkhanie, whose authority alone they acknowledge." Mr. 
Mackenzie's proposal was that the Shah's Government should 
concede to his firm — which is in close relations with that of 
Messrs. Gray, Dawes, & Co., of London — permission to put 
steam-vessels on the Karun ; and these gentlemen have in- 
formed Lord Derby that if the British Government would 
give them a subsidy of four thousand pounds a year, they 
would undertake to run a steamer monthly from Shuster to 
Mohammerah and back. From the latter town, the vessels 
of the British India Steam Navigation Company, of which 
the firm above mentioned are agents, run to Bushire and 
Bombay, and, by the Suez Canal, to London. 

I have no means of judging w^hether the subsidy is justly 
calculated ; but I know that the Russian Government gives a 
large subsidy, nominally for carrying the mails, to the line of 
steamers belonging to the Caucasus and Mercury Company — 
a purely Russian undertaking — which call at all the Persian 
landing-places on the Caspian ; that the British Government 
adopts a similar policy with regard to the British India Com- 
pany ; and it is obvious that in both cases this is done with a 
view of promoting influence and trade in Persia. But En- 
glish trade is being beaten out of Persia for want of a better 
entry than by the terrible road from Bushire to Shiraz, and 
Persia w^ould benefit immensely by having a more ready out- 
let for her surplus produce. In villages not distant from the 
Karun, a quarter of Avheat may be bought for about four 
shillings ; so that Persia might hope, if this river were made 



LETTER TO LORD DERBY. 285 

available, to reduce the adverse balance of trade, which, in its 
constant augmentation, threatens the country with ruin. I 
am not acquainted with the precise language in which the re- 
fusal of the concession was conveyed; but I have no doubt 
that the negotiation failed because some Persians in high offi- 
cial position wanted to be paid, and largely paid, for allowing 
Englishmen to confer gratuitous benefit upon their country. 

In 1842, when Lieutenant Selby ascended the Karun River 
by direction of the East India Company, he concluded his re- 
port with the words, "I feel sure the day is not far distant 
when these rivers will be as well known and traversed as the 
Indus and the Ganges." As to the present condition of Brit- 
ish in competition with Eussian trade, Messrs. Gray, Dawes, 
& Co., than whom probably no persons are more competent 
to form a trustworthy opinion, have written to Lord Derby 
as follows : 

" Ispahan, the centre of the Persian trade, may fairly be 
taken to be the common ground where Russian and British 
commerce meet ; and until recently the expense of transport- 
ing goods to and produce from that point, by the northern 
and southern routes, was nearly the same. Of late years, 
however, the Russian Government has so far improved the 
northern facilities, that, by degrees, various articles of com- 
merce (for instance, copper, iron, refined sugar, manufactured 
hardware, candles, etc.) have been closed to us, and their 
trade is extending farther south ; and, in some instances, we 
are beaten even at the coast ports. The facilities provided 
are — frequent, cheap, and direct communication to the Cas- 
pian ; abolition of the transit duties through the Caucasus on 
goods via Poti and Tiflis; and a resolute insisting upon a 
prompt settlement of the claims which their traders have 
against the Persian authorities. 

"To compensate for these growing disadvantages, Ave 
would respectfully urge upon your lordship's consideration 



286 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAKAVAX. 

the necessity of adopting some protective measures for our 
trade in the south ; and we would suggest, first, that a Brit- 
ish consul should be placed at Ispahan ; and, secondly, that 
the Shah's Government should concede to us the privilege of 
placing steamers on the river Karun, to run from Moham- 
merah and Shuster, in connection with the steamers from 
Bombay and London. 

"About fifteen years ago, in the interests of trade, the 
Government subsidized river steamers to j)ly between Bus- 
sorah and Bagdad. This has resulted in a very large and 
still increasing trade : the subsidy, we believe, was four thou- 
sand pounds per annum. For the same subsidy, we would 
be prepared to place a steamer on the Karun, and maintain a 
monthly service between Shuster and Mohammerah, connect- 
ing at Mohammerah Avith the niail steamers from Bombay, 
Kurrachee, and London." 

Baron Renter has not yet abandoned Persia, and is still 
engaged, I believe, in projecting railways, having turned his 
attention from north to south. If it were possible to obtain 
money for the construction of a railway in Persia, there can 
be no doubt that British interests would benefit most by a 
line from Yezd, through Ispahan, to Shuster, to run in con- 
nection with steamboats on the Karun. But I can not be- 
lieve that a railway would be profitable in any part of Per- 
sia. The passengers would be but very few, and it would 
be extremely difficult to take the goods traffic from the backs 
of mules at profitable rates. We have sometimes ridden for 
eight hours between Teheran and Ispahan without meeting 
a traveler of whom it might reasonably be sujDposed that he 
would have paid to go by rail. For the ten or twelve mules 
and horses we required, we paid little more than the value of 
a shilling a day for each — a sum which included the attend- 
ance of muleteers as well as the feeding and stabling of the 
animals. In his rej^ort to Baron Renter upon improved com- 



TEAFFIC IN PERSIA. 



287 



municalions in Persia, Captain St. John, R.E., made the fol- 
lowing statement of the cost per ton per mile : 





Miles a day. 


Maximum. 


Minimum. 


Average. 

3d. 
id. 


By mules, average speed 

By camels or asses, average speed . . 


22 
12 


15d. 
f)d. 


3d 

2d. 



These are low rates, and the muleteers' trade in Persia is 
one that would die hard. The charvodars, and all of their 
men, are accustomed to enormous fatigues, and the class is 
certainly one of the most honest and worthy in Persia. In 
the towns, many of the wealthiest people have invested mon- 
ey in mules ; and these, too, would look with unfriendly eyes 
upon the new mode of traveling. 

But such interested objections, of course, wear out. The 
real question is, whether the concession of power to construct 
and work a railway would be respected, and whether the 
traffic is, or is likely to become, sufficient to render the un- 
dertaking profitable. From all that we have seen during five 
months in Persia, I am inclined to think that no sufficient 
security could be given to justify confidence that the con- 
cession would be respected, especially if the railway were 
successful; and that there is nowhere in Persia — one of the 
most sparsely inhabited countries of the world — sufficient 
traffic to render a railway profitable. As to the cost of con- 
struction, although in the plains the work would be very in- 
expensive, yet it must be remembered that no tw^o towns can 
be connected, without overcoming great engineering difficul- 
ties. Between the chief towns of Persia there are mountains 
which must be crossed at a height of six thousand or eight 
thousand feet, and which are, without exception, rocky, some 
of them composed of the hardest stone. These, however, are 
only such obstacles as English engineers delight in surmount- 
ing. The real difficulty is in the want of security, and in the 
unsatisfying prospect of remunerative returns. 



288 THKOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

There is very little intercourse between the chief towns of 
Persia. Those cloorless hovels of mud-brick, covered with a 
rude cement of mud and straw, which are placed at distances 
of twenty to thirty miles apart on the way from Resht, 
through Teheran and Ispahan to Shiraz, have but the one 
room, the bala-khanah, elevated aboA^e the noisome yard in 
which horses and mules are inclosed for the night. In a ride 
of about four -and -twenty days to Ispahan, we had never 
found, on arriving at a station, this one room already occu- 
pied, which is perhaps the strongest evidence that could be 
afforded of the scarcity of native or foreign travelers. Per- 
chance some bold speculator will in the next budget of bub- 
bles be prepared to "float" a company for working the Tehe- 
ran or Ispahan Steam Tram-ways, Limited, regardless of the 
fact that it is more than doubtful if a carriage of any sort 
could make its way through any town in Persia. It is cer- 
tainly a fact that no carriage can be obtained for hire in 
either of those places. 

As to the population of the tow^ns and of the country gen- 
erally, there exist no trustworthy figures. The number of 
the inhabitants of Ispahan is stated to be more than ninety 
thousand ; but after passing five weeks in the city, and be- 
coming well acquainted with nearly every part of it, I am not 
inclined to believe that more than half that number of people 
can ever at any one time be found in the " Crown of Islam." 
The Persians do not seem to retain their senses, or their cal- 
culating faculties, when the numbers rise over one thousand. 
I have said that the Zil-i-Sultan told me that the Shah had 
five Persian crores of soldiers (two million five hundred thou- 
sand men) ; but after seeing much more of his father's domin- 
ions than he has himself beheld, it would not surprise me to 
learn that the whole number of men, women, children, and 
slaves in Persia does not exceed his royal highness's estimate 
of tlie Persian army. We have never traveled in a country 



TRAVELING IN PEESIA. 289 

SO thinly populated, and in this respect the contrast with In- 
dia is very striking. Even on the most frequented track 
in Persia, the mule-path from Teheran to Ispahan, we have 
ridden eight-and-twenty miles in daylight without seeing a 
human habitation, or, except the foot-marks upon the road, a 
trace of man. 

But the charm of traveling in Persia is utterly lost when 
one weighs all that is met with in the scale of progress. In 
Persia, passing from the swift and, on the whole, steady ca- 
reer of Western Eurojje in the ways of civilization, there ap- 
pears to be not only an absence of progress, but rather retro- 
gression. That which is truly interesting in Persia is the ex- 
tended scenery, and the outdoor life — for no European sees 
much of the indoor existence — of the people. Persia is,^xr/* 
excellence^ the land of magnificent distances. In summer the 
mountains, always in sight, and in many places strongly color- 
ed with the metallic ores which they contain, glow with won- 
drous beauty in the rose-light of the morning sun, and hard- 
en into masses of deep purple and black when the clear and 
pleasant starlight is substituted for the glare of the blazing 
sun of Persia. In another season, when looking from the 
snow-covered mountains, we have seen the plains resembling 
an arctic sea, the apparently perfect level covered with a daz- 
zling expanse of untrodden snow; and, again, when the white 
hills loomed through the blinding storm like icebergs of 
polar regions. 

Wherever the people are seen, their presence adds to the 
charm of the landscape. The men are handsome and pictur- 
esque, in their costumes of blue or white cotton, with here 
and there one in red or yellow. In the towns the traveler 
recognizes in the people the characters of the tales in "The 
Arabian Nights." There is the handsome, stalwart porter, 
the hamal^ with panting breast exposed and darkly sunburn- 
ed skin, scratching his shaved head, ready for any new sura- 

13 



290 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

mons, including that of the mysterious lady, the mistress of 
the equally mysterious house, wherein he may be murdered 
or enriched, killed and buried like a dog, or clad in splendid 
robes, and served by lovely maidens bearing dishes of gold 
and silver, according to the good pleasure of the genii. 
There, in the streets or bazaars of Ispahan, is the merchant 
from Bagdad, wearing the respectable marks of a pilgrim, 
and saluted, in virtue of his journey to Mecca, by all men as 
"Hadji." His green or white turban is spotless and ample; 
a cloak of fine cloth, gold-braided, hangs from his shoulders, 
and his tunic of purple or green is bound with a costly sash, 
in which probably the case containing his materials for writ- 
ing is thrust like a dagger. Everywhere is seen the priest or 
mooUah, riding, with nothing of meekness in his face, a white 
donkey, his dress proclaiming him to be a member of the 
caste w^hich is strongest in Persia. There are no old men ; 
for those whose beards are naturally white with age have 
been transformed into unnatural youth by dying the hair 
brio-ht red with khenna. The hands and feet of such are 
often colored with the same preparation, and they sit smoking 
a kalian, or reading the Koran, upon the front planks of their 
stall in the cool bazaar, without any more apparent interest 
in their business than if it were a mere cloak for the super- 
natural concerns of their active life in such another sphere as 
that in which moved the genii of those wonderful tales. 

Even without aid from the genii, there are always present 
in Persia two mysteries, which no doubt will serve to trans- 
mit, as long as they exist, the ideas of " The Arabian Nights." 
These are the veiled lady and the >valled-up house, into which 
no outside eye can penetrate. ISTo giaour can see even the 
eyes of a Persian woman of the middle and superior classes. 
She moves through the streets and bazaars on her white 
donkey, or on foot, in complete disguise. Even her husband 
would not reco2:nize her. She is covered — as I described the 



THE GREATEST POWER. • 291 

women of Resht — from liead to foot in the loose chudder of 
indigo, or black-dyed cotton or silk. Over her face there is the 
long white veil tied across the chudder, where that envelop 
covers all but the visage. The legs are hidden in loose trou- 
sers of cotton or silk of the same color as the chudder, which 
are not worn in the house. In all her outdoor life she is a 
moving mystery. She may be young or old, white or black, 
fair or ugly, on a mission of sin, or upon an errand of charity; 
no one knows who she is, as she shuffles along upon shoes 
which are difficult to keep upon her feet, as the upper leather 
ends far before the heel. She raises, at some mud -walled 
house, an iron knocker upon a door like that of a fortification ; 
is admitted ; the door is closed ; and what goes on within 
that house, what is the fate of the women, the children, and 
the slaves, no one outside can know. There is no window 
from which they can communicate with the outer world : it is 
a despotism within a despotism. Each one of these walled 
houses is the seat of a despotic sovereignty, established and 
confirmed by the greatest power in Persia— that of the Ko- 
ran. 



292 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Leaving Ispahan.— "The Farewell" Hill.— Opium Manufacture.— The Tel- 
egraph Superintendent. — Punishing a Servant. — Khadji Josef's Tea-party. 
— Marg. — Kum-i-Shah. — The Baggage lost. — Neither Ispahan nor Shiraz. 
— Ahminabad. — English Doctor robbed. — Doubt and Danger. — Yezdik- 
hast. — A Vaulted Chamber. — A Black Vault. — Telegram from Shiraz. — 
The Abadeh Istikbal. — A Traveling Pipe. — Display of Horsemanship. — 
Abadeh. — The Governor's Present. — Bread from Teheran. — Letter from 
Abadeh. — An 111 -looking Escort. — Khanikora. — Miserable Lodging. — 
Soldiers refuse to March. — Up the Mountains. — Houssein Khan. — Deh- 
bid. — Shooting Foxes. — Khanikergan. — Meshed -i-Murghaub. — Kobbers 
about. — Persian Justice. — Tofanghees. 

Overlooking the rich and extensive " Vega," or Plain of 
Grauada, there is a hill called "El Ultimo Sospiro del Moro" 
("The Last Sigh of the Moor"). It is supposed, or assumed, 
that the last of the Mohammedans, on quitting the Alhambra 
and its glorious neighborhood, cast from this hill " a longing, 
lingering look behind" at the Spanish city, the name of which 
is forever associated with their rule. ISTear Ispahan, on the 
way to Shiraz, there is a hill commanding a view as extensive, 
and it is called " The Farewell," or " The Good-bye." 

It is not every day that travelers set out from Ispahan for 
Shiraz, and on the day of our departure all Djulfa was astir. 
A superintendent of the Persian Telegraph, who was about to 
make his annual inspection of the line, which ran at all times 
in the neighborhood of our path, very kindly arranged his 
journey so that he and his five servants might join our cara- 
van. We had engaged mules and horses on the recommenda- 
tion of an Armenian merchant, one Khadji Josef, in whose 
service our mules had carried opium to Bash ire. During our 



"the good-bye." 293 

stay, there were always men engaged in the manufacture of 
opium at Khadji Josef's house. In the process, the opium 
looked exactly like Menier's chocolate. Each man had a large 
tin tray before him, under which was a small fire of charcoal. 
On the tray was a quantity of crude opium, which with sticks 
the workmen always kept in motion, until, after much stirring 
and kneading, it was poured into molds, and came out in the 
shape of small two-pound cakes ready for export to England. 
Most of the Persian opium, it is said, is sent to this country, 
to be used here, and exported from England to other coun- 
tries for medicinal purposes, for which it is especially suitable, 
owing to the large quantity of morphia it contains. Khadji 
Josef, the opium merchant, had hospitably resolved that, as 
the thermometer was not below zero — it was very little above 
freezing-point even in the sun — he would give an al fresco en- 
tertainment at " The Good-bye." In Persia, where it is com- 
mon to take one's food upon the desert, the notion of send- 
ing out into the wilderness half a dozen servants to make tea, 
and to get pipes ready and in good smoking order, does not 
appear strange. 

Of course hours passed before we were prepared to start. 
It is always so ; the loading of each mule for the first time is 
a tedious work of art, in which charvodars show great skill. 
Weights, as nearly as may be equal, must be suspended on 
each side of the animal. If a trunk is put on one side, and 
another trunk u23on the other side is not so heavy, then in the 
same slings an iron bedstead, or something else to make up 
the weight, must be placed upon the lighter trunk ; then on 
the top of some bulky goods the small things must be stacked, 
so that they will not be upset by the motion of the animal, 
nor injured by collision. While all this was being arranged, 
the cavalcade grew larger : Khadji Josef and his pretty wife, 
an Armenian girl, with no other enjoyment but that of riding 
high-spirited horses over the plains of Ispahan, were there ; 



294 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAlf. 

the British agent ; our good friend the missionary, and every- 
body we had known in the Persian city, all mounted, and at- 
tended by mounted servants. The Telegraph superintendent 
had ten baggage -mules, besides the five servants, who were 
mounted on his own horses. 

Kazem told me he was glad this superintendent was going 
with us ; he would be a good protection against robbers ; and 
certainly it seemed, from his armament, that robbers we must 
expect to meet. Every man of his following carried a car- 
bine ; one or two had sword and pistol ; he himself had a re- 
volver stuck in his belt. But Kazem had another reason ; he 
said that one of the superintendent's servants was his " broth- 
er." I understood him literally, and wondered to see no per- 
sonal resemblance. It was explained that there was no rela- 
tionship between them other than that they had vowed af- 
fection, and called each other by the name of " brother," after 
a fashion not uncommon in Persia. "We w^ere talking of this 
man when we heard a cry something like a yell, and saw the 
superintendent, a strong, thick-set man, standing in his stir- 
rups, and with a heavy horsewhip beating the very person. 
Kazem's "brother" had come up to join the caravan, the 
worse for w^ine ; and his master, waving the terrible thong of 
his whip over his head, was executing summary punishment 
in a land Avhere there is no justice. The servant was a good- 
looking man, with dark and sombre face, over which his high 
black Persian hat was perched like the shako of a guards- 
man. He wore a plum-colored tunic of stuff made of goat's 
hair, and black trousers. His feet w^ere firmly set in the 
huge, sledge-like stirrups, and though his face was pale with 
fright, he took his beating as if there were no possibility of 
resistance or escape. The poor wretch howled like a dog; 
and when the superintendent refolded the thong of his whip, 
the man seemed to be perfectly sober, but without power of 
steadying himself in the saddle. He paused a minute as if 



KHADJI JOSEF's TEA-PAP.TY. 295 

writhing witli pain ; then touched his horse, which sprung at 
once into a gallop. The man rocked fearfully in his saddle 
as he rode off; but he was soon too far from us to appear 
any thing but a vanishing spot upon the plain. We could 
see, however, that he knew where he was going, and that he 
had merely preceded upon the road we must follow. It 
turned out that we had ascribed this sudden gallop to the 
right cause — to his desire to escape from the sight of those 
Avho had witnessed his disgraceful punishment. 

At last we set off — a band of very irregular cavalry — my 
wife's takht-i-rawan being the rallying-point of the caravan. 
My horse had those qualities most advantageous for a nine- 
teen days' ride — steadiness and endurance, which, however, 
are not showy. Our Persian friends w^ere prancing over the 
plain, dashing from right to' left in true Oriental fashion, 
while we plodded on up the gentle ascent from Djulfa to 
" The Good-bye." After riding about four miles, we reached 
a small plateau, where Khadji Josef's servants were already 
expecting us with boiling samovars, and a Avhite cloth spread 
upon the desert, on which were laid cakes of Persian bread, 
manna, sweetmeats of many kinds, boxes of sardines, and pots 
of jam imported from Europe. There w^ere bottles of wine, 
for which the servants had dug holes in the desert, and arrack 
for those who preferred that fiery liquor. A heavy spirit 
duty would not be an evil in Persia. The best quality of this 
pure alcohol may be bought in Teheran or Ispahan at fifteen 
shihees (seven and a half pence) a bottle. 

We all dismounted, and enjoyed not only the tea, but also 
the view over Djulfa and Ispahan, divided by the silver 
streak of the Zayinderud. It Avas a perfectly barren place 
where we stood, and we had passed not a sign of cultivation 
in the four miles we had ridden. The air was not very cold, 
though upon the plain there were large patches of snow, and 
the mountains all around were white and glistening. We 



296 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

were sorry to part company from all who had ridden out witli 
us from Ispahan ; but more than all with Mr. Bruce, the mis- 
sionary. Our Avay lay toward the mountains, which, when 
they obscured the sunlight, looked very cold and desolate. 
The sky too, which had been clear, was gathering in clouds. 
But we were soon at Marg, and hard at work in the endeavor 
to make the bala-khanah somewhat wind-proof for the night, 
which after sunset was bitterly cold. 

Next day about noon, having collected some withered 
thorns, which are the only vegetation of the desert, the serv- 
ants made a fire, and gave us a hot luncheon of stewed meat 
and rice, by the side of a stream, the water of which pro- 
duced in the food something of that chalybeate flavor Avhich 
Sam Weller identified with the taste of " warm flat-irons." 

We rested at the chapar-khanah of Mayar on the second 
night after leaving Ispahan. From Mayar to Kum-i-Shah, 
the third day's march, is a distance of about twenty miles. 
Kum-i-Shah is the place of a slirine — in ruins, of course. We 
had just come in sight of the green dome, which marked the 
sacred place, when two men, evidently Europeans, wearing 
the pith helmets so common in India, appeared on the scene. 
They were the Telegraph clerk and the inspector resident at 
Kum-i-Shah, both Scotchmen ; and, after kindly attending us 
to our wretched lodging, a mud hovel in a town of still infe- 
rior mud hovels, they appeared again in the morning to ride 
with us part of the way to Mux-al-beg, the next station. The 
temperature had been falling every day since we left Ispahan. 
The cold on the plain from Mayar to Mux-al-beg was the most 
severe we had experienced. For hours w^e crawled over the 
plain, for the most part covered with snow, at the rate of three 
miles an hour, exposed to a wind so keen that my mustache 
was painfully weighted with pendants of ice, which were re- 
newed as often as I melted them by pressing my hand upon 
mv face. I was clad from head to foot in a fur coat I had 



THE BAGGAGE LOST. 297 

bought in the bazaars of Ispahan, a quite invaluable purchase. 
Externally the coat was of yellow leather, so long that the 
skirt touched the toes of my boots, and in circumference am- 
ple enough to lap over a foot in front. It was secured at the 
neck with strings of Persian silk, and at the waist with a 
leather strap. The outside was beautifully worked in pat- 
terns with amber silk ; inside was the warm long wool of 
the Cabul sheep. The sleeves, which reached nearly to the 
ground, and were at the elbow ample as a bishop's lawn, were 
almost tight at the wrist — an excellent arrangement for ex- 
cluding the icy wind of the Persian plains. 

The gholams who had charge of our baggage mules were 
always lagging behind, so much so that I was afraid they 
might get cut off by robbers, for whom they would have been 
an easy prey, and our baggage a rich booty. I called them 
forward, and made them understand that they were to push 
on before us and get to Mux-al-beg as soon as possible. But 
they missed the way, and we experienced perhaps the acme 
of misery as travelers, in waiting for a couple of hours in the 
cold bala-khanah, without seats or furniture of any descrip- 
tion. Just as we arrived, snow began to fall heavily, and this 
added to our anxiety, for the sea does not look more pathless 
than an Asiatic plain in a snow-storm. 

After snow has fallen, the weather is always less cold. But 
the landscape the next morning, when we straggled out about 
sunrise into the deep snow, was one of the most cheerless 
I have ever, beheld. The sky and the ground were of one 
whiteness, and there was no sign of the position of the sun. 
For some time our mules and horses blundered into holes and 
out of holes, until we found the track. Through the white 
gloom, we rode on, and on, over the snow for three hours. 
Then we reached a ruined caravanserai. From this we could 
just see, in the farthest distance, another building, which the 
Telegraph superintendent told me was a second caravanserai. 



298 THEOIJGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

and " the ground between the two is," he said, " no man's 
land." This disowned territory lies between the govern- 
ments of Ispahan and Shiraz ; and although offenses have oc- 
curred upon it, the two governments have never decided 
which is responsible. *'At this caravanserai," continued the 
superintendent, pointing to the ruined and deserted building, 
"I was robbed. We were passing, as we are passing now, 
and a lot of fellows rushed out, armed ; they surrounded us, 
and robbed us of every thing." But we passed safely over 
the neutral ground ; and though I was so stiff with cold and 
rheumatism, on arriving at the second caravanserai, that it 
took me some five minutes to get off my horse, I was able 
to enjoy a stew of kidneys and rice, which Kazem, with the 
assistance of about fifty ragamuffins who stood round his 
fire, and interfered on every possible occasion, had prepared. 
Where those people came from, wiiat they were, what they 
subsisted upon, I can not tell. But perhaps a Persian would 
feel equally puzzled with regard to the hangers-on about the 
public-houses of England — men whose business in life seems 
to be that of secreting an appetite for gin by standing out- 
side the licensed doors with their hands in their pockets. 

With some difficulty, I hoisted my painful bones into one 
of the deep arches in the wall of the caravanserai, and the 
bystanders watched every mouthful, with an eager eye to the 
remainder, which I took care should be as large as possible. 
My wife was taking luncheon in her takht-i-rawan. But her 
mules would not stand still; and at last she was obliged to 
set off in advance of the caravan, with no one in attendance 
but her mule-driver and one servant. When I mounted again 
and rode out of the caravanserai, which Avas called Ahmina- 
bad, I could see that my yahoo was tired with trudging 
through the deep snow. We had yet twelve miles to go be- 
fore reaching the end of our day's journey at Yezdikhast. 
Snow began to fall, and I had no indication of the path ex- 



ENGLISH DOCTOE EOBBED. 299 

cept the half-covered foot-marks of my wife's mules. I urged 
my horse forward to reach the takht-i-rawaii, but could do no 
more than keep it in sight. I was glad to hear the cheery 
voice of the Telegraph superintendent as he galloped up be- 
hind me. The ground was for the most part level; but now 
and then there were gentle undulations which hid the takht-i- 
rawan— "ups and downs," Avhich, he said, were "famous places 
for robbers." "It was about here," he continued, "that Dr. 

^^ J o"e of our medical staff, was attacked. A band of 

men sprung out upon him from behind that turn in the road. 
There they stripped him literally naked, and tied him to one 
of those scrubby trees." "How was he released?" I asked. 
" Oil," replied the superintendent, " it was in this way : a 
foot-passenger, a Persian, arrived at the chapar-khanah from 
which the doctor had hired a horse, which he was to leave at 
the next station, and the keeper of the post-house naturally 
asked him if he had met the doctor on the road ; and when 
the traveler said 'N'o,' then they all suspected the truth, and 
several of the villagers took up their guns, and set out to look 
for the doctor, whom they found in a most miserable con- 
dition." 

The superintendent was full of anecdotes concerning the 
perils of Englishmen in Persia, and I, interested, took little 
note of the way. We had found by experience that nothing 
faster than a Avalk could be obtained from my horse, and had 
resigned ourselves too completely to the slow rate of progress. 
The superintendent appeared to be suddenly alarmed, on 
looking at his watch. The falling snow and mist hid all but 
the plain from our view, and I could well understand that to 
lose our way, or to fail in reaching the village before night- 
fall, might mean death. There could be no possibility of 
keeping in the track after dark, and there Avas much room to 
doubt whether we should be alive in the morning, after pass- 
ing the cold hours of the night, without food, upon the plain. 



300 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAYAN. 

We pushed forward, and tried to keep the takht-i-rawan in 
sight. Our baggage-mules and all our servants were far in 
advance; the greater number had not staid with us at Ah- 
minabad. The difficulty was, that as we were unable to see 
the mountains, even those who knew, or believed they knew, 
the road had no indication of our whereabouts. At last, 
when we were becoming extremely anxious, there loomed in 
front of us the vague outline of a mountain, which dissolved 
all doubts and alarms. 

Soon afterward, almost suddenly, we came upon a ravine 
in which the village of Yezdikhast is most singularly situated, 
upon an isolated rock, the surface of which is level with the 
plain. The village seems from a distance to be seated on the 
level ; from the edge of the ravine the sight appears extraor- 
dinary and picturesque. ISTearly a hundred feet from the 
ground, some of the inhabitants peered at us from the village 
walls on our arrival. We descended, cold and covered with 
snow, to the bottom of the ravine, where the caravanserai 
stood outside the village. The recollection of our apartment 
at Yezdikhast is almost enough to induce catarrh. To clear 
away the snow from the steps which led to the roof w^as no 
easy matter. Upon the roof snow lay thick, and the only 
room on that elevation was as big as a small chapel, with a 
vaulted roof five-and-twenty feet from the floor, which was 
like a chalky road with heaps of ashes here and there, the re- 
mains of past fires, lighted, in the Persian manner, in any part 
of the room. The open door- way was wide; over that we 
suspended rugs. High over the door was a square hole, al- 
most as large and quite out of reach. The idea of warming 
such a place was, of course, absurd. We hghted some logs, 
had a hasty dinner, and got into our beds. Next morning 
the snow was so deep, and my wife so unwell, that we de- 
termined to stay where we were, but not in the bala-khanah. 
Kazera and I selected the best of the gloomy arches which 



A BLACK VAULT. 301 

surrounded the yard, had it swept out, lighted a fire, hung a 
mat in the door-way, had our furniture moved, and my wife 
carried down into this brick vault, which, when the door-way 
was screened, was utterly without light. After the manner 
common throughout Persia in such places, the domed roof 
was covered with a black coating of bitumen, and one of our 
difficulties was in dealing with the impenetrable darkness. 
The glow of the fire seemed pressed back into the grate, and 
the liofht of our candles to extend no farther than the table on 
which they were placed. All day long we lived in this Cim- 
merian gloom, with our traveling thermometer too near zero. 
Our strenuous efforts to warm the bricks of this black vault 
involved a most unusual consumption of fire-wood, which was 
regarded by the people as reckless extravagance; but with 
us it was really a question of life or death, for my wife had 
symptoms of inflammation of the lungs, and I could not get 
the temperature up to 40°. I have seen a more comfortable 
room at the bottom of a coal-pit than that in w^hich we passed 
the' 13th of January at Yezdikhast. The rough curtain over 
the door did not exclude the freezing wind, nor the brayings 
and the shouts from the mules and their drivers, who throng- 
ed in the yard, from which this curtain was our only separa- 
tion. All day long snow fell fast and thick. We became anx- 
ious as to the possibility of crossing the mountains, which we 
should reach after four days' march from Yezdikhast. 

When we set out on the morning of the 14th for Shulgis- 
tan, the snow was inconveniently deep — so deep that a biv- 
ouac at midday, except in the saddle, was out of the question. 
For eight hours we toiled through it, meeting no living creat- 
ure all day, except one small caravan of donkeys from Shiraz. 
At Abadeh, the next station after Shulgistan, we expected to 
find an escort, provided by the Governor of Shiraz. At Kum- 
i-Sh'ah I had received a telegram from his excellency, forward- 
ed in translation by the English clerk at Shiraz, saying that 



302 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAlSr. 

he had heard of our approach, and that he wished to place a 
residence at our disposal during our stay at Shiraz, to which 
I replied that we had already accepted an invitation frora Mr. 
Odling, the resident medical officer of the Indo-European Tel- 
egraph at Shiraz, but that I would be obliged if his highness 
would send us a suitable escort of soldiers, to accompany our 
caravan from Abadeh to Shiraz. 

At Abadeh we were to lose the company of the superintend- 
ent and his servants. I noticed that all of them were hu- 
manely provided with blue spectacles, which are indeed the 
only means of escaping the torture of inflamed eyes in cross- 
ing these snow-covered plains. The all-penetrating dust of 
summer, and the painful glare of snow in winter, are sufficient 
to account for the prevalence of sore eyes among the mule- 
teers. Along the way to Abadeh, the superintendent gave 
fresh illustrations of brigandage in Persia, and soon after mid- 
day he and his troop galloped off. I sent on our baggage at 
a quicker pace than was possible for our takht-i-rawan, and 
soon afterward I told our own servants to get in and prepare 
an early dinner. We were left alone on the plain with two 
muleteers. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, as we 
were approaching a ruined village which lay half a mile to 
the left of the path, that I saw a number of wild horsemen 
straggling out from these ruins. They galloped hard toward 
Kazem, who was perhaps a mile in front of us. I had no 
doubt that they were robbers. Their place of hiding and 
mode of attack were precisely such as had been described. 
To fight forty armed horsemen was impossible, and of escape 
there was no chance. I saw them gallop up to Kazem, sur- 
round him, and bring him back in our direction. Kazem, 
seated between his saddle-bags, looked about as the prisoner 
of these Persian bashi-bazouks. I could see them gesticula- 
ting fiercely around him. The appearance of the band was 
the wildest imaginable. Hair, and clothes, and horses, they 



A GUARD OF HONOR. 303 

were alike only in this quality of wildness. I placed my horse 
close beside the takht-i-rawan as we advanced to meet them. 
I had not a doubt we were about to be robbed, and perhaps 
ill-treated ; and when half a dozen sprung forward, I was in- 
tensely surprised, though I am sure I exhibited no astonish- 
ment, when, instead of pointing their carbines and lances, 
they bowed to their saddles, and the leader, touching himself, 
said, " Hakem." Then I saw in a moment that this wild 
troop had been sent out to meet us, as a guard of honor, by 
the "Hakem" or Governor of Abadeh, and that they had 
been waiting, probably for hours, in the ruined village.* 

They had ridden to Kazem to inquire if we were the ex- 
pected Ferangis, and, this point being settled, they surround- 
ed us. The leader called for the kalian, which is never ab- 
sent on these occasions of ceremony. Two of the wild horse- 
men were concerned in producing the ceremonious pipe. 
One, who was pipe -bearer, carried, dangling at his saddle, 
far below the belly of his horse, a perforated pot of charcoal, 
which swung and jangled as he rode, and on the other side 
was suspended the water -bowl of the kalian, the stem and 
fittings of which were carried by the second man. No one 
stopped while the pipe was being prepared ; and when I re- 
fused it, and the machine was passed on to the leader of the 
wild horsemen, he supported it on his saddle, while he labori- 
ously inhaled the smoke in which Persians so much delight. 
Meanwhile the horsemen commenced a display on their own 

* The troop formed an istikbal, which is the Persian Avord for a welcom- 
ing party. The number of men composing the istikhal is a matter of great 
importance with ceremonious Persians. The native princes of India are ex- 
tremely ambitious in the matter of gunpowder salutes : the number of guns 
with which they are welcomed is an indication of rank which they regard 
with jealous attention ; and so it is in Persia with the numbers composing 
the istikhal. Terrible has been the wrath of great men when they were re- 
ceived outside Persian towns with a mengre istikhal. 



304 TIIEOUGH PEESIA BY CAKAVAN. 

account. They rode round and round us, shouting and lev- 
eling their lances or their guns. These soon dashed away- 
over the snow, in pretended encounter ; others dropped their 
lances, and then, galloping at full speed, picked up the weap- 
on without dismounting. In some form or other, these ex- 
hibitions were kept up until we reached Abadeh, where the 
whole population seemed to have turned out in the miserable 
streets. The superintendent had kindly promised, as the cha- 
par-khanah had a very bad reputation, to engage for us the 
best room he could find in the town. But the streets were 
so narrow, and so incumbered with frozen snow, that it was 
impossible for the takht-i-rawan to approach the town. To 
the great delight of the crowd, it was lowered from the mules 
at some distance ; but their curiosity was disaj)pointed when 
the lady preferred to be locked in her carriage until the room 
was ready for her reception. The "room" would be called 
a " shed," and a very insecure shed, in any part of Western 
Europe. IsTothing would induce the door to close within 
about two inches, and there was a greater defect of the same 
sort about the other doors w^hich served as windows ; the 
floor was of beaten clay, the walls plastered with mud, and 
the smoke-dyed beams of the roof were well hung with cob- 
webs. Upon the beams dried grass had been piled, and hung 
in dusty festoons. 

Kazem and his helpers had hardly completed all the neces- 
sary arrangements when a train of soldiers and slaves arrived 
from the governor, a petty potentate, subject to his highness 
who rules at Shiraz, bearing a present, which consisted of two 
plates of sweetmeats, two pots of sweet cream, a large tray 
covered with cakes of the thin bread of the country, and 
three live fowls. The governor's servants said he was very 
anxious that I should pay him a visit. They were extreme- 
ly frank about their master's feelings on the subject. They 
ursced that it would be such a humiliation if I did not see 



A DISPUTE SETTLED. 305 

him, and that this v/as the reason why he was so anxious. I 
had been riding all day, I was very tired, and we were to 
leave the next morning early; but, however, I promised to 
pay his excellency a visit, and took with me, as a present 
from Mrs. Arnold to the governor's wife, a pretty little pock- 
et-book, which he accepted with great enthusiasm. He had 
received orders, he said, from the Firman Firma (the title 
given by the Shah to Yahia Khan, the Governor of Shiraz), 
that we were to be attended from Abadeh to Shiraz by the 
captain of the road-guard and six of his men ; and after the 
usual set-out of coffee, pipes, and tea, I returned to our din- 
ner of soup and pillau. But on the way I was stopped by 
our charvodar, from whose loud lamentations I gathered that 
one of his gholams had deserted, taking with him a few 
krans belonging to the charvodar. There could be no doubt 
that the gholam had engaged to go to Shiraz, and immedi- 
ately I took steps to have him found, which did not appear 
to be a work of great difficulty. When the missing gholam 
had been found by the governor's officers, I took him apart 
and asked if he was willing to go the whole journey. He 
said "Yes," and that he had run away only because of some 
dispute, which the charvodar was willing to settle. I warned 
him that, on leaving Abadeh to cross the mountains, no de- 
sertions would be permitted, and that our guard would have 
orders to look after him. He seemed quite intent to give no 
further trouble. 

With three soldiers for escort, we set out again over the 
snow for Zurmak, a short march of sixteen miles upon a 
nearly level plain. We had just gone to bed in the custom- 
ary discomfort of the bala-khanah, when there was noise of 
tremendous knocking at the outer door of the chapar-khanah, 
which is always exactly under the bala-khanah. This, we 
soon learned, was the arrival of the embassy messenger, on 
his monthly journey from Teheran to Shiraz, with letters for 



306 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CARAVA:N^. 

the Indian mail. To us he brought a most welcome present 
— six loaves of .good bread from Madame Lsessoe. A soldier 
who traveled with him, and who had orders to add himseli 
to our escort, brought us a letter from the Governor of Aba- 
deh, of which the following is a translation : 

"At the service of the exalted, excellent gentleman, the 
munificent — I forward abundance of well-wishing and con- 
gratulation. 

" God willing, I trust you have arrived in safety at the 
stage of Zurmak, and that your time will pass pleasantly. I 
am exceedingly sorry that I have not been of service to you 
daring your stay here. Because fortune did not assist me 
the day you left, and proper service was not done by me to 
you, and because I was not ennobled by being able to help 
you, I am indeed sad and grieved. I feel certain that the 
services which should have been done for you have not been 
accomplished. Forgive me. God is witness, I hoped to be 
some days in your company, and to show my devotion to 
you. 

"I trust you will let me know of your arrival at Shiraz, 
that I may be assured of the safety of your noble person. I 
have no more to say. 

" (Seal of) Mohammed Reza." 

In Persia very few persons sign their name — very few, 
perhaps, have the power of doing so — but many Avho can 
write prefer to give their letters the greater dignity of their 
seal. And as we found at Teheran, so throughout all Persia, 
every body who has, or is likely to have, a financial transac- 
tion carries a seal. The raggedest charvodar, with the sorriest 
troop of mules, produces the engraved stone or brass, which 
is his seal, and stamps an agreement for a journey. The 
letter of Mohammed Reza is a fair specimen of the flowery 



EXTREME COLD. 307 

and complimentary style common to all Persian letters of 
ceremony. His excellency had provided four soldiers ; their 
captain and the rest of the troop were to join ns on the top 
of the j)ass at Dehbid. We were approaching the most dan- 
gerous part of our travels, and the most famous haunts of 
robbers in the mountains between Ispahan and Shiraz. In the 
world it would hardly be possible to find four more ill-looking 
fellows than our escort, i^ppearing upon any stage as the 
villains of a play, they would have had an immense success ; 
and, for my own part, I felt very little confidence in their 
protection. A better friend was the cold, which was every 
day becoming more intense as we ascended tow^ard the pass 
of Dehbid. To ride at a walking pace for nine hours through 
a freezing wind involves suffering of which even the recol- 
lection is painful; and on the way from Zurmak to Khani- 
kora I was not able to walk part of the way, because I found 
that if I took to the saddle again after my boots were cov- 
ered with snow, there was danger of frost-bites from the 
boot being incrusted with ice. Seeing a brown, bare patch 
about midday, I got off to take luncheon ; but this was worse 
than any other place, for it was not, as I supposed, cleared of 
snow by wind, but by the salts in the earth, which melted the 
snow as it fell into a freezing mixture. Standing in this ter- 
ribly cold slush, I took from the takht-i-rawan the remainder 
of a piece of brawn, which had been made for us in Ispahan. 
But it was frozen into crystals of ice, and had no taste but 
that of extreme cold. 

We have an abiding recollection of the bala-khanah at 
Khanikora; the cold was the most severe we had experi- 
enced, and this was one of the most wretched. From the 
yard, filled high with frozen snow, the mules, their drivers, 
and the soldiers crept quickly into the hovels at the side, 
where all lay down together. The bala-khanah was about 
eight feet square and seven feet high, black with smoke, and 



308 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

with a hole for door -way or wmdow on every side. We 
lighted a fire, and the place was at once filled with stifling 
smoke. We saw that though the thermometer was many 
degrees below zero, and a frosty wind blowing through the 
wretched place, it would not be possible to have a fire. Hav- 
ing stuffed up the windows and door-ways with rugs and 
stones and sticks and planks, we got through the night, and 
learned, the first thing in the morning, that the soldiers re- 
fused, on account of the extreme severity of the cold, to pro- 
ceed up the defile to Dehbid, which is seven thousand five 
hundred feet above the sea. 

There were two good reasons for pushing onward : our 
miserable position at Khanikora, and our firm belief that 
the intense cold preceded another fall of snow, which would 
block the pass, and detain us not one, but possibly many, days 
in this wretched chapar-khanah without fire or food. I sent 
word to the soldiers by Kazem that we intended to start 
immediately, and that they could go, or remain behind, as 
they pleased. I knew we should have no more of their ob- 
jections ; which, however, when we got well out upon the 
frozen snow, and in the full grip of the wind, had, I was 
compelled to admit, a really terrible foundation. Up the 
slope we passed in Indian file for hours, the snow lying in 
drifts ten, fifteen, and in some places twenty feet deep. One 
caravan had passed before, and in the footsteps of these 
pioneers we found security. If a horse or mule missed the 
track, which zigzagged from side to side, it was at once half 
buried in the snow. There could be little reason to feel fear 
of robbers, even in this favorite place of attack, in such weath- 
er. My face was skinned and burned a reddish black in a 
few hours by the wind and sun. The snow drifted into my 
hair, and froze in lumps and icicles about my face. Not a 
word was heard ; none were in the humor for talking. Two 
of the soldiers and Kazem lay down in their large saddles. 



CAUGHT IN A STORM. 309 

and covered themselves over with their goat's-hair cloaks, so 
that no part of their faces or bodies was visible, to hide them- 
selves from the biting wind. At twenty yards' distance no 
one could have supposed that their horses carried men. 

At last, in the teeth of this wind, we reached the summit, 
from which the view was such as I can fancy would much 
resemble the lookout in polar regions from the top of some 
huge iceberg. The apparently limitless, snow-covered plain 
looked flat as the frozen ocean, and the hills rising from it 
like the ice-mountains. There was not a tree, nor a house, 
nor a bare patch, to vary the white monotony of the scene ; 
and overhead the dull sky seemed loaded with snow, which 
was just beginning to fall. We were still ten miles from 
Dehbid, when the path began to descend gently. Presently 
we saw a party of horsemen approaching, whom, from my ex- 
perience at Abadeh, I presumed to be friends. It was Hous- 
sein Khan, the captain of the road-guard, who was to conduct 
lis to Shiraz, and a troop of his followers. He was a thin, 
roguish -looking man, his saddle a perfect armory of hand- 
somely inlaid weapons. He made his salaam, in spite of the 
freezing temperature and the falling snow; his pipe-bearer 
produced the traveling kalian. But the ceremonies of greet- 
ing, which in Persia can not be disregarded, were scarcely 
ended when the storm broke. The wind hissed, and the snow 
fell in blinding clouds. Houssein Khan was vanquished by 
the weather. He had for a little while adopted our walking 
pace, and placed himself behind me, his men being divided 
about equally into a front and rear guard. But the snow- 
storm and the freezing wind made him think only of himself. 
He had come out with the wind at his back, and had not 
suffered much. It was now unendurable, and he trotted past 
me, then gained a corner of the road, and there set off at a 
gallop for the shelter of Dehbid. One by one, the rear-guard 
stole past, and soon we were left alone with our muleteers, i 



310 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

We could not see more than a hundred yards before us, 
and the track was gettmg covered up. The wind seemed to 
pierce my riding-boots as if they had been made of cotton. 
At last, after nearly two hours of this difficult and solitary 
progress, we met Mr. Markar, the Armenian clerk of the tel- 
egraph at Dehbid, who had kindly ridden out to look for us. 
It was at his house we were to pass the night. I was de- 
lighted to see him, and he, the inhabitant of one of the most 
desolate and lonely stations in the world, was evidently glad. 
But in such a wind and storm it was impossible to talk. We 
were soon at his fireside, recovering warmth from cups of hot 
tea. We were rejoiced that we had made the journey and 
pushed througli to Dehbid. Had we given way to our escort 
and staid at Khanikora, we should have been imprisoned. It 
would have been quite impossible to leave that most wretch- 
ed chapar-khanah for days, perhaps for weeks, after such a 
storm, which must have filled the defile in many places with 
impassable depths of snow. 

Mr. Markar's house was of the usual kind. A quadrangle 
of mud-bricks, mud-cemented, with no external opening but 
through the strongly barred door ; the buildings having a 
uniform height, that of all the rooms placed round the central 
court. Our apartment had a door, and over that a curtain of 
Manchester cotton; but when I got out of bed in the morn- 
ing I found the snow lying in a white drift across the room, 
having been blown in the night through door and curtain. 
Mr. Markar was a sportsman, and had outside his wall what 
he called a fox-trap. This was the remains of a dead mule, 
near which he posted himself at night, and sometimes shot 
one or two foxes, which are valuable for their handsome gray 
fur. l!^o one in Persia seems to understand the proj)er prep- 
aration of fur. The Persians have a means of temporary 
preservation sufficient for the skins until they reach a Eu- 
ropean market. In Ispahan and Shiraz there is a consid- 



KHANIKEEGAN. 311 

erable traffic in these skins, which are bought by the mer- 
chants at about two krans apiece. They are then sent to 
England or Russia, to be dressed and made up. Although 
among the higher classes much fur is worn in Persia, none is 
made up in the country. 

Houssein Khan and his men were glad to leave the mount- 
ain-tops. They looked blue with cold when we were getting 
the caravan together to proceed toward Shiraz. We could 
take the warmest part of the day for leaving Dehbid, as the 
distance to Khanikergau, the next station, was only twelve 
miles. For the whole of the way the ground was covered 
deep with snow. One caravan had set out before us and 
marked a track, but we met no one. We were prepared by 
evil report to find none but most wretched lodging at Khan- 
ikergau, but had not placed our expectations low enough. 
The caravanserai was an old stone building, and the sur- 
roundiug arches were not, as usual, raised above the yard, 
but were on the same level. We had the best, but it was 
disagreeably evident that it had been recently occupied by 
mules; and from the smoke-holes in the centre of the roof 
the melting snow dripped slowly into the hole which served 
as a stove when this place had been occu|)ied by animals who 
cook their food. We could only have a fire at the cost of 
being stifled with smoke, so we preferred to lay a stone over 
the hole in the roof — an undertaking which brought down 
the snow in heaps into the room. Until sunset, the stone 
walls of this noisome place trickled with cold moisture, which 
then froze hard in icicles and stalactites. We had no securi- 
'ty that some curious mule would not push his head through 
the flimsy covering of the door-way. But, however, we slept ; 
and when Kazem brought the usual kettle of hot coffee with 
the first dawn of the morning, we w^ere rejoiced to think that 
Khanikergan was to be a place of the past. 

At Meshed-i-Murghaub, which we reached on the evening 



312 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. 

of the 21st of January, the chapar-khanah was outside the 
village, which was surrounded with a mud- wall. This is one 
of the most dangerous centres in Persia ; and as we rode up, 
a number of the villagers armed with guns, and accompanied 
by others who had no weapons, came out to meet us, making 
a great noise, in which I could hear the Persian word for " rob- 
bers " frequently mentioned. It appeared that a band of rob- 
bers had been seen in the neighborhood, and these poor peo- 
ple had taken up arms to defend themselves and their prop- 
erty in case of attack. We were looked upon as a valuable 
re-enforcement, and as a possible source of danger ; for, ac- 
cording to Persian laws, the districts in which robbery occurs 
have to make good the losses sustained by travelers; and 
this, though inoperative when Persians are the subject of at- 
tack, is, the people well know, not likely to be disregarded 
when Europeans have been plundered. Not that they believe 
the proceeds will be conveyed to the plundered party : they 
have not sufficient conviction of the honesty of their Govern- 
ment for that ; but they are shrewd enough to know that the 
robbery w^ould afford excellent ground for the extortion of 
money by the officers of the governor. 

A Persian argues with himself that when there is trouble 
in the country, some people will have to pay, with life or prop- 
erty, or both ; and it is most likely this will fall upon those 
in the neighborhood. The circumstances of his country have 
never led him to think of justice as an abstract matter, or of 
justice as pursuing criminality with discrimination or discre- 
tion. He knows by experience that the victims of justice are 
more accidental than those of crime ; and when that authority- 
which stands for justice in Persia is abroad, his first thought 
is to fly away, or to hide every thing which he possesses. 
When a European traveler has been robbed or murdered, it 
has happened that large encampments of Iliats, and even vil- 
lages, have been deserted, owing to the universal fear among 



A SMALL DIFFERENCE. 313 

these people of being selected to suffer punishment for the 
criminals. On such occasions somebody must be hanged or 
tortured to death; and if the criminals are not taken red- 
handed, Persian justice sees none so likely to be guilty as 
those nearest to the scene of crime. 

In every village there were a certain number of men ac- 
customed to carry arms, tofanghees (gun-carriers) they are 
called. More or less, these men are under the orders of the 
governor. He can require their attendance in any part of the 
district surrounding their village, either as an escort for trav- 
elers or merchandise, or for the destruction of robber bands. 
But no one seems to place much confidence in a tofanghee. 
Generally he is " a man with a gun," and nothing more. In 
the South of Persia, the attentions of the tofanghees to the 
traveler are frequent and embarrassing. Sometimes they 
march out with him in the morning, whether he will or no ; 
and when they are tired, when they aj)proach the boundary 
of the next village, or especially when they think there is a 
band of robbers at hand, they ask for money and for leave to 
make their salaam. Surrounded by a dozen wild-looking men 
well armed, and asking for money in this attitude, a doubt has 
crossed my mind whether they are so very different from the 
robbers against whom they pretend to be a protection. 

14 



314 THEOUGH PEKSIA BY CARAVAN. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Classic Persia. — The Tomb of Cyrus. — Date of the Ruins. — Passargardaj. — 
Columns of Cyrus's Tomb. — Color of Ruins. — Neglected by Persians. 
— Kawamabad. — Takht-i-rawan in Danger. — Houssein Khan and the 
Sheep. — Village of Sidoon. — Ruins of Istakr. — Situation of Persepolis. — 
Araxes or Bendemeer. — Staircase at Persepolis. — -Darius and Xei*xes. — 
Cuneiform Inscriptions. — Study of Cuneiform. — Chronology of Assyria. — 
Great Hall of Xerxes. — The Persepolitan Lion. — Hall of a Hundred Col- 
umns. — Professor Rawlinson on the Ruins. — Tomb of Darius. — "The 
Great God Ormazd." — The Bringer of Evil. — Dios and Devils. — Errors 
in Religion and Art. — Pedigree of Architecture. — Persians, Medes, and 
Greeks. — Origin of Ionic Architecture. — Leaving Persepolis. — Plain of 
Merodasht. 

At Murghaub, we approach the grandest relics of the time 
when Persia was the great empire of Cyrus, of Darius, and 
of Xerxes. At three hours' ride from the village the plain is 
fringed with low hills, among which stands, close by the path 
from Ispahan to Shiraz, the tomb of Cyrus. Near this, we 
had seen rising from the snow all that remains of his city of 
Passargardae, where the inscription "I am Cyrus, the King, 
the Achgemenian," may be read more than once upon the 
ruins. It is partly from the proximity of these unquestion- 
ably genuine ruins, and also from the dignity and obviously 
funereal character of this massive mausoleum, that it has be- 
come accepted as the original resting-place of the body of 
the great king. 

The period which these highly interesting ruins illustrate 
is concurrent with the Ach?emenian dynasty, or, to put it in 
another form, it is the period extending from the accession of 
Cyrus, in 560 B.C., to the death of Alexander, in 323 b.c. The 



CLASSIC PEKSIA. 315 

1-eigiis specially illustrated are those of Cyrus, of Darius, of 
Xerxes, and Artaxerxes. We shall fix the time more clearly 
still in the mind if we remember that the buildings of Per- 
sepolis are of about the same date as those of the Acropolis 
of Athens. We may find many points of curious and inter- 
esting comparison between the work of Darius and that of 
Pericles ; and regarding both, we see at once how great a 
disadvantage the Persians suffered in not having at hand 
such marble as that of Pentelicus. 

It was on this plain of Murghaub that Cyrus won Persia. 
I think it is Professor Rawlinson who tells us, in his " Five 
Ancient Monarchies," how King Darius was bound, whenever 
he visited this ancient city of Passargardse, to present to each 
Persian woman who appeared before him a sum equal to 
twenty Attic drachmas, or about sixteen shillings of English 
money, according to a custom established in commemoration 
of the services rendered by the sex in the battle wherein Cy- 
rus first repulsed the forces of Astyages. 

We dismounted at the tomb of Cyrus, and walked about in 
the snow, while Kazem made a fire, preparatory to the man- 
ufacture of an omelet. As a rule, Oriental monuments owe 
much to the grandeur of their situation ; and this is no excep- 
tion. They are set in solitude ; they have a surrounding of 
space, which is all their own. When the thought of the trav- 
eler is arrested by so vast a retrospect, he becomes more im- 
pressed with the. natural grandeur of the desert; and there 
seems to be, a hush, a natural silence in the air, which moves 
around these most ancient monuments as if Nature herself 
were paying homage at these shrines of departed greatness. 
For more than two thousand four hundred years this tomb 
has defied the leveling hand of Time ; and another period of 
not less duration may apparently be sustained without fur- 
ther injury. 

The tomb was originally surrounded by columns, set prob- 



316 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CAKAVAN. 

ably ill a double row, with a covered space between. But 
none are left standing. Most of the columns have disappear- 
ed entirely ; some are prostrate ; and of only a few is there a 
broken fragment remaining in position. These columns were 
not colossal, probably not more than eighteen feet high ; and 
the space inclosed is hardly more than a hundred and fifty 
feet across. In the centre of this space stands the tomb, ap- 
proached by a pyramid of steps, about forty-five feet square 
at the base. These steps, the rise of each being two feet, 
are composed of large blocks of marble, the color of which 
has darkened to a yellowish brown. Upon a platform about 
eighteen feet from the ground, and twenty feet square, stands 
the tomb — a small, solid, unadorned building, composed of a 
few^ blocks and huge slabs of marble ; the whole being scarce- 
ly more than fifteen feet high from the platform to the peak 
of the marble roof. In shape it exactly resembles a child's 
"Noah's ark," with the boat arrangement cut off. At one 
end there is a low, massive door-way, through which, if the 
remains of Cyrus really rested there, they were carried, to be 
deposited upon the floor of this little temple. By all writers, 
including our own Professor Rawlinson, this is accepted as 
the resting-place of the great king ; and it is believed that his 
body was placed here in a golden coffin. 

That it is a tomb, or that it is the tomb of some very ex- 
alted personage, or that it was constructed about the same 
date as the neighboring ruins of Passargardse, which are un- 
questionably erections made in the reign of Cyrus, there can 
be no doubt. Some travelers appear to have thought that the 
marble has not sufficient aspect of antiquity to warrant this 
conclusion. But what, then, would they say of the Parthe- 
non ? The marble masonry upon the Acropolis of Athens is 
similar to this upon the plain of Murghaub, in massiveness, in 
coloring, and in the absence of mortar or cement, of which 
none was used by the builders in either place. But the tomb 



KAWAMABAD. 3 IT 

of Cyrus has a less fresh appearance than the walls of the 
Parthenon. Alas that no Historic Monuments Bill can apply- 
to the plains of Murghaub ! There is nothing to attract the 
acquisitive powers of an Elgin, for the marbles are utterly 
without inscription or adornment, and there is nothing to hin- 
der ravage by the Persians. I have never seen in any Mo- 
hammedan people an exhibition of the slightest desire for the 
protection of the great historic monuments of which they 
have been or are possessed. The pashas of Stamboul looked 
on unconcerned while the marbles of ancient Greece were 
burned to make lime for building cattle-sheds. Were it in 
ruins, they would as soon burn the stones of Santa Sophia as 
the tiaibers of an old man-of-war ; and for the Persians, these 
great ruins, which should be the pride and most sacred treas- 
ure of their country, are nothing more than useless heaps of 
tumbled stone. If any man needed lime in the neighborhood, 
or stone to build a caravanserai, he would probably use the 
stones of Cyrus's tomb, or the columns of the Hall of Darius; 
and these invaluable records and memorials of a period con- 
cerning which very much more than our present knowledge 
might be gathered by excavation and research upon the spot, 
are regarded with no more concern or attention than the 
bones of a dead camel. 

From Cyrus's tomb we rode through a narrow plain for 
several hours to the village of Kawamabad, a collection of 
mud-huts lying near the mountains. There was no chapar- 
khanah at Kawamabad, and we were obliged to hire a room 
in the village, to get at which we had to pass through two 
cow-sheds and into a walled straw yard, from which our apart- 
ment, upon nearly the same level, was entered. The takht-i- 
rawan could not enter the door -way of this range of build- 
ings, and was, as usual, left outside. But immediately upon 
its being lowered to the ground, the villagers who stood look- 
ino- on said that would never do. " Robbers ! robbers !" they 



318 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

cried, and pointed to the hills. They were in a state of great 
excitement. A band of robbers had visited Kawamabad. that 
day ; it Avas feared they would return, and the poor villagers 
did not want to be responsible for the rifling of our takht-i- 
rawan. It was impossible for the mules to carry it within 
the building, so the villagers took the work upon themselves ; 
and with many invocations of "Allah," of "Ali," and "Hous- 
sein," and with an amount of force of which a thii'd, if dis- 
ciplined, would have been more than sufficient, they lugged 
the takht-i-rawan into greater safety. 

If the band which had visited Kawamabad were disposed 
to attack our caravan, I expected we should meet them next 
day during our ride to Sidoon. In addition to Houssein 
Khan and his soldiers, half a dozen villagers, with guns in 
their hands, set out with us in the morning, and by their 
advice we kept the baggage-mules close up, and allowed no 
straggling on the part of those animals. But Houssein Khan 
did not seem apprehensive; and when the villagers were 
tired and returned, he was quite ready to do a little highway 
robbery, or, rather, sheep-stealing, on his own account. We 
were in a region of moderate fertility ; there were a few 
flocks of sheep and goats upon the plains, each flock tended 
by one or two herdsmen. Whenever we approached a flock 
of shec'p, Houssein Khan galloped off, as I at first supposed, 
to consult the herdsman as to the security of the road, and 
the position of the rabble musketeers who were supposed to 
guard the path under his command. Gradually I perceived 
that these rides had a more strictly personal object. From 
every one of these visits he returned with a sheep across his 
saddle, or upon that of one of his men, which was soon aft- 
erward set upon its legs, until there was a small flock of half 
a dozen following him, under the care of one of our own Per- 
sian bashi-bazouks. At first I thought Houssein Khan was 
buying the animals for food; but we were within two days' 



EUINS OF ISTAKE. 319 

march of Shiraz, and it was evident that one would have been 
enough for the whole caravan. I had not sufficient Per- 
sian at command to obtain a thorough explanation. But I 
called Kazem, and made him understand that I thought the 
herdsmen were being robbed, and told him to let Houssein 
Khan know at once of my suspicions, to watch what was 
done with the sheep, and to report to me every thing. Ka- 
zem smiled, as if he thought such concern was extremely 
prudish, and said something, in which a word sounding like 
" wedocle " occurred. This, I knew, is the Persian mode of 
expressing forced and illicit contributions ; and in Sidoon I 
learned that the sheep were sold by Houssein Khan at about 
two-and-sixi3ence each. The chapar-khanah at Sidoon lay in 
a terribly cold situation, in the shade of a range of mount- 
ains ; but we bore the discomforts of the place, with the rec- 
ollection that on the morrow we should see Persepolis, and in 
two days end our journey in Shiraz. 

The natural formation of the country in the neighborhood 
of these illustrious ruins is very suggestive and imposing. 
Journeying from Ispahan, the plain, at one end of which 
stand the remains of Persepolis, is approached through a 
vast natural gate- way, in which run the road and the river 
Pulvar, and of which the pillars are strangely shaped and the 
many- colored mountains of the hardest limestone. The ta- 
ble-rock, or mountain, on the right is very remarkable ; and 
in this entrance, which is too wide to be called a gorge, are 
found the massive ruins of the city of Istakr, which one has 
not patience to examine carefully when so near to the far 
more interesting remains of Persepolis. At Istakr the road 
winds to the left round the bold spur of the mountains which 
forms the background of Persepolis. 

On approaching the ruins of the halls and temples and 
tombs of Darius and his descendants, the traveler, recalling 
perhaps to mind all that he has seen at Baalbec, at Psestum, 



320 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVA]^. 

and upon the Athenian Acropolis, will surely be struck with 
a sense of disappointment, because there is here no outline 
of ancient hall or temple, no realizable structure in which he 
can place the form of Darius or Xerxes. There is nothing 
more than remains of the temples of Jupiter in Athens and 
in Rome — a few solitary or connected columns, and the mass- 
ive stones of some part of an ancient hall or propylaeum. 
The distant aspect of the ruins of Persepolis will fall below 
anticipation as much as the results of their examination in 
detail will exceed expectation. In fact, the most interesting 
ruins in the world, because they are covered and adorned 
with eloquent records of the past, these stones are not ar- 
ranged for a cou2^ cVoeil. 

The mule- path passes close to the side of the mountain 
from which the platform of Perse23olis is projected into the 
plain of Merodasht. Through this plain runs the river, which 
in classic times was called Araxes, afterward known as Bunda- 
mir, or Bendemeer, as Moore has called it in " Lalla Rookh." 
Standing upon the platform of Persepolis, the view across 
the river is uninterrupted for more than twenty miles. The 
extreme height of this platform where it faces the plain is 
about forty-five feet, its length from north to south about fif- 
teen hundred feet, and the meagre depth from east to west 
about eight hundred feet. 

The grandest work at Persepolis is in connection with this 
platform. The masonry of the supporting walls of the plat- 
form is irregular, the blocks, mostly of huge size, presenting 
angles of every degree. The surface of this inmiense work is 
true and sound as it was two thousand years ago. But it is 
not in this that the glory of this platform rests. At its great- 
est height, the platform is ascended from the plain by a stair- 
case which, for the magnificence of its proportions and the 
beauty of construction, deserves to have been regarded as 
one of the wonders of the world. The staircase at Persepolis 



CUNEIFORM INSCEIPTIONS. 321 

has had no equal in ancient or modern times. Compared 
with this, a work probably of the time of Darins, the marble 
stairs which lead to the Parthenon are insignificant, and the 
imperial stej^s in the Roman Coliseum barbarous. A regi- 
ment of cavalry, ten abreast, could ride easily up the double 
flights of the Persepolitan staircase. The steps, which ap- 
pear to be composed of the hardest syenite, are twenty-two 
feet wide ; each step rises only three and a half inches, and 
has a tread of fifteen inches. In some places the blocks of 
the masonry in the staircase are so large that three or four 
steps have been hewed out of the same piece of stone. 

We little thought when, in spite of the timid counsels of 
Mr. Erskine, then British minister at Athens, we passed a 
day upon the Plain of Marathon, that a few years afterward 
we should stand among the ruins of the Hall of Darius, the 
place to which he probably returned after that unsuccessful 
expedition against the Greek; or that when we stood in sight 
of that splendid landscape, near w^here 

" A king stood on the rocky brow 
That looks o'er sea-girt Salamis," 

w^e should afterward enter the magnificent ruin of the Propy- 
laeum of this King of Xerxes at Persepolis. It is this build- 
ing which stood at the top of the grand staircase, and the 
most massive of the ruins upon the platform of Persepolis are 
those of this edifice. Upon the piers there are inscriptions 
in cuneiform letters, which as clearly as the winged bulls 
above these writings testify the relationship between the As- 
syrians of Nineveh and the Medes of Persepolis. The inscrip- 
tion is the same on each pier, and is written in three lan- 
guages. It has been translated by Sir Henry Rawlinson into 
the following : 

"The great god, Ahura-mazda (Ormazd) ; he it is who has 
given (made) this world, who has given mankind, who has 

14-^' 



322 THKOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

made Xerxes king, both king of the people and lawgiver of 
the people. I am Xerxes the king, the great king, the king 
of kings, the king of the many peopled countries, the sup- 
porter also of the great world, the son of King Darius tlie 
Achsemenian. Says Xerxes the king, by the grace of Or- 
mazd I have made this gate of entrance (or this public port- 
al) ; there is many another nobler work besides (or in) this 
Persepolis which I have executed, and which my father has 
executed. Whatsoever noble works are to be seen, -we have 
executed all of them by the grace of Ormazd. Says Xerxes 
the king, may Ormazd protect me and my empire. Both that 
which has been executed by me and that which has been 
executed by my father, may Ormazd protect it." 

This is repeated twelve times in all ; and, looking upon 
the original with Sir Henry's translation in one's mind, it is 
surprising how so much can be conveyed in so few letters. 
!N"ot much more than a fourth of the space which could be 
required for this inscription in English is occupied by the 
cuneiform letters. 

It would be interesting to trace in detail the process by 
which scholars have acquired the art of deciphering these 
and similar inscriptions ; of forcing the secret oi their long- 
concealed meaning from these strange characters, which no 
more resemble the Arabic or Persian letters of our day than 
do the forms of the English alphabet. It is, however, perse- 
verance and acuteness, rather than scholarship, which are re- 
quired for this discovery. The study begins by observing, 
from obvious similarity of letters, when the same word occurs . 
in the same or in different inscriptions. The importance of 
the word, if a long one, or its unimportance, if short and fre- 
quently recurring, will be observed. At last, by considering 
many, if not all, possible combinations of the supposed mean- 
ing of one word, some light will dawn with regard to three 
or four words, perhaps a large part, or even the whole, of an 



CHEONOLOGY OP ASSYEIA. 323 

inscription. This is uncloiibtedly the method in which the 
meaning of these inscriptions has been mastered. It is gen- 
erally admitted, I believe, that no one has done more in this 
work than Professor Grotefend, of Gottingen, of whom Mr. 
Fergusson says, in his "Nineveh and Persepolis," that we 
owe to him " the key which has led to all we know in this 
matter." Professor Grotefend made laborious analysis of 
two inscriptions among those which are met with at Per- 
sepolis. The first is that which may be seen upon the ruins of 
the Hall of Darius, and which has been translated: "Darius, 
the great king, the king of kings, the king of nations, the son 
of Hystaspes the Achsemenian. It is he who has executed 
this sculpture." The second is upon the Hall of Xerxes, and 
in English is as follows : " Xerxes, the great king, the king 
of kings, the son of Darius the Achsemenian." These inscrip- 
tions obviously afforded hopeful matter for analysis. The 
frequent recurrence of the word translated " king " suggest- 
ed that it was a title of ceremonious honor ; the position of 
the word "Darius" at the head of the first, and its place in 
the second inscription, suggested that it was a proper name ; 
while its occurrence in the second inscription immediately 
before the words "the Achagmenian," which appear in the 
first, led naturally to the supposition that " Hystaspes " w^as 
in like manner a proper name. But while the briefest consid- 
eration of this mode of acquisition may increase our respect 
for the actual labor of scholars who devote their eneriries to 
this work, it also suggests how many imperfections there may 
be in any knowledge so acquired — discrepancies of signifi- 
cation which in some cases it may be forever impossible to 
repair. 

While we are dwelling for a moment upon this order of 
research and discovery, it will be interesting to note the ac- 
count given by Professor Rawlinson of the finding of collat- 
eral evidence in support of the generally accepted chronolo- 



324 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

gy of the Assyrian history, upon which is based that of the 
Achsemenian dynasty. Among the records of Assyrian his- 
tory was discovered the mention of j^henomena obviously a 
description of the effects of a total solar eclipse. This was 
stated to have taken place in the month Sivan (or June), in 
the ninth year of King Asshur-damin-il II. Sufficient was 
known of the annals of the kings of Assyria to identify with 
some degree of certainty the century in which this particu- 
lar monarch lived; and the time of his reign appeared to be 
fixed with unquestionable accuracy when the calculations of 
astronomers showed that the only total eclipse of the sun 
falling about the middle of the year, visible in Assyria be- 
tween B.C. 847 and b.c. 647, within which time the reign of 
Asshur-damin-il II. must certainly have fallen, was the one 
which, according to these figures, must have taken place on 
June 15th, b.c. 763. 

With regard to the Propylseum of Xerxes, of the two read- 
ings given by Sir Henry Rawlinson, " this jDublic portal " is 
probably better than " this gate of entrance," because these 
gates were in all Oriental countries, from the earliest dawn 
of Christian times, places of business as much as of passage. 
Upon the inner sides of the massive stones of this " public 
portal" are sculptured in low-relief the massive forms of 
winged bulls, some with human, others with bovine, heads. 
The largest of these quadrupeds have the human head, cov- 
ered with a tiara, and on the shoulders wings, similar in all 
points to those which Mr. Layard introduced to the world 
from Nineveh. 

Upon the vast platform at Persepolis there are remains of 
at least five important buildings — four lying to the right of 
the Propylseum of Xerxes, and no two of them being pre- 
cisely upon the same level. The first of these important 
buildings is the Propylaeum; and near that a staircase (as 
elegant in construction, though much smaller than the grand 



GKEAT HALL OF XERXES. 825 

flights of stairs vising from the plain to the platform) leads 
to the level of the building known as the Great Hall of Xerx- 
es. This name " Hall " is given in ignorance of its real ob- 
ject or designation. Mr. Fergusson, the distinguished archi- 
tect, to whose work* I have before alluded, has written upon 
these ancient stones, and has, in fancy, reconstructed them 
with remarkable insight, though, like most who have writ- 
ten about them, he has never beheld the ruins of Persepolis. 
But, had he seen these remains, he could not have described 
with greater truth and accuracy the real difficulty in forming 
any supposition apart from the actual evidence afforded by 
inscriptions and ruins, than he has in the true remark: "At 
Persepolis we have pillars, door-ways, and windows, but not 
one vestige of the walls that clothed them, or of the roofs 
they supported." That the Great Hall and other buildings 
of Persepolis were roofed, is pretty obvious, both from the 
shape of the capitals of the columns and from the number of 
the columns, which are not placed, as in Greek buildings, 
merely at the sides of the structure, but at equal distances 
over all the floor. We can see that the columns which sup- 
ported the portico of the Great Hall of Xerxes were of mar- 
ble. Those which remain are crowned wdth capitals com- 
posed of two bulls' heads, placed neck to neck, forming an 
excellent rest for the entablature. These columns are fluted, 
and have upon their pedestals that ornamentation which was 
so long considered as a Greek invention — the honeysuckle, 
with the bud of the lotus ; in fact, the decoration known 
everywhere as " the Greek honeysuckle." In the north por- 
tico of this Great Hall there is yet more striking evidence of 
the debt which the perfection of architecture in Greece owes 
to Persia, to Assyria, and possibly to Egypt. In the capitals 
of these columns there is an elongated or double volute, al- 

* Fergusson's ''Nineveh and Persepolis." 



320 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

most identical in figure with that which is seen upon the 
later buildings of Greece ; while upon the walls of door- ways 
there are sculptures, truly Oriental, of kings on thrones or on 
foot, attended by slaves holding the parasol of state, or the 
fly-chaser, equally an emblem of royal dignity. By the Per- 
sians this hall is called " Chehil Minar," or "Forty Columns," 
w^hich is, in fact, a common name for any columned buildings 
of grand dimensions in Persia. The shabby old pavilion at 
Ispahan, with twenty tall columns of wood, set with grimy 
mirrors, is called " Chehil Minar." 

I do not feel at all sure that the columns of the interior of 
some, if not all, of the great buildings of Persepolis were not 
of wood. There can be no doubt that, in those remote days, 
the lion had the characteristics of strength and supremacy 
which are still attributed to the " king of beasts." At Per- 
sepolis, the angular sides of the staircase leading to the Great 
Hall of Xerxes are filled in with very powerful sculptures 
in low-relief, in which an animal of enormous strength, with 
much resemblance to a lion, has fixed its teeth and claws 
into the hind-quarters of a bull, w^hich fills the higher angle 
of the space by rearing and turning its uplifted head in help- 
less anguish from its devourer. From that time to this there 
have been lions in the mountainous region round Shiraz; and, 
apropos of Persian lions, I shall never forget the tone of 
plaintive envy in which the formidable Zil-i-Sultan spoke of 
his father, the Shah, " having killed a lion." In this feat, he 
seemed to consider, lay the real superiority of the Shah over 
himself. 

It is noticeable in the buildings of Persepolis, as compared 
with the Parthenon, that there is nothing resembling the con- 
tinuous action displayed in the processions upon the frieze 
of the Greek building. At Persepolis, upon the sides of the 
staircases and in other places, there are processions ; but, as 
a rule, one figure is exactly like the next ; there is no connect- 



HALL OF A HUNDRED COLUMNS. 327 

ed action. The modern ornamentation of Teheran is like that 
of Persepolis in this respect : a soldier occupies a panel, anoth- 
er soldier of the same pattern is seen in the next, and so on. 

The grandest of the buildings of Persepolis, the ruins of 
which are known as those of " the Hall of a Hundred Col- 
umns," stood behind the Great Hall of Xerxes. The bases of 
the columns and parts of the outer walls remain. We can 
trace the regular position of the columns, but can not decide 
whether, being of wood, they have perished ; or, being of stone, 
have been carried off for the adornment of some mosque or 
palace. They were certainly not very large. The area covered 
by this building was considerable ; but neither this nor any of 
the buildings of Persepolis could have had any thing like the 
grand proportions of the Temple of Jupiter at Athens. In 
reading Professor Rawlinson's careful work, " The History 
of the Five Ancient Monarchies," one is often reminded of 
the disadvantage under which an author labors, be he ever so 
learned and acute, who writes of buildings and of countries 
he has never beheld. Had Professor Rawlinson seen the 
buildings of Italy, of Greece, of Egypt, and of Asia, he never 
would have written of these ruins of Persepolis, and in par- 
ticular of this Hall of a Hundred Columns, as " the great pil- 
lared halls which constitute the glory of Arian architecture, 
and which, even in their ruins, provoke the wonder and ad- 
miration of modern Europeans, familiar with all the triumphs 
of Western art, with Grecian temples, Roman baths and am- 
phitheatres, Moorish palaces, Turkish mosques, and Christian 
cathedrals." This is just the point in which the buildings of 
Persepolis fail. They are deeply interesting as records of the 
Achaemenian dynasty; they are illustrated books of priceless 
value in their inscriptions and sculpture; but for grandeur, 
and even solidity, they never were comparable to some of the 
buildings of Athens, nor, among modern and Christian build- 
ings, to the Church of St. Isaac in St. Petersburg. 



328 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVA:N-. 

The floor of the Hall of a Hundred Columns is, for the 
most part, buried deep under rubbish, the washings of ages 
from the neighboring mountains. Against the stoutest blocks 
of the richly sculptured walls this detritus lies undisturbed, 
concealing sometimes the legs of a winged bull, at others the 
lower garments of a king, and how much besides which the 
passing traveler can not see nor guess. What new lights for 
history, what treasures of antiquity, may be lying within 
two or three feet of the surface in these neglected ruins ! In 
the walls of this hall there are deep recesses or niches, the 
likeness of which is invariably met with in every modern Per- 
sian house. 

That portion of the platform farthest from the great stair- 
case and the Propylseum of Xerxes is occupied, first, with 
the Palace of Darius, and, last, with the Palace of Xerxes ; 
and in the far background, in the side of the mountain, orig- 
inally approached by steps, is the tomb of Darius. Above 
the small door-way, which lets into a cave hewed from the sol- 
id rock, the face of the mountain is smoothed and sculptured. 
In the foreground of this work of ancient art is the crowned 
figure of the king, and at the opposite end, on the same level, 
an altar with fire burning upon it. Above this altar is the 
round full orb of the sun ; and hovering in mid-air, between 
the sun and the monarch, is what Mr. Fergusson calls " his 
ferouher, or disembodied spirit." But this is unintelligible. 
Professor Rawlinson suggests, with greater show of reason, 
that this figure is the emblematic resemblance of Ahura-maz- 
da, the "good " god of the Medes, the Ormazd of the inscrip- 
tions of Xerxes. The figure is that of a man crowned and 
robed like King Darius, his feet unsupported, his body passed 
through a ring, which connects a pair of vast wings ; and of 
this Professor Rawlinson says, " The winged circle, with or 
w^ithout the addition of the human figure, which was in As- 
syria the emblem of the chief Assyrian deity, Asshur, became 



THE BEINGEE OF EVIL. 329 

with the Persians the ordinary representation of the Supreme 
God, Ormazd." 

The language of the inscriptions of the time of Darius has 
been described as an old form of Persianj closely allied to the 
Vedic Sanskrit of India, on the one hand, and to the more 
modern Zend of Persia, on the other; and the religion seems 
to have been the ancient representative of the faith of the 
Parsees of to-day. In this tomb of Darius, the greatest 
place in the heavens is given to the sun, and on earth to the 
altar of fire, the terrestrial emblem of the sun. Then in the 
heavens, again, Ahura-mazda, or Ormazd, is the god of all 
good things, prayed to, and revered by humanity below. 
We know that, according to the belief of the time, Ormazd 
was not all-powerful. Whatsoever things were good came 
from him, and to him all the hopes and fears of mankind 
under the sun were addressed. But there was another be- 
sides Ormazd, the spirit of evil, Angro-mainyus, who, for 
obvious reasons, does not appear in this sculpture. He, the 
briuger of all trouble and pain, was helloed by " divs," bad 
spirits, whose delight was to thwart the work of Ormazd. 
Is it possible that these were the forerunners of our own 
familiar devil, the belief in whose existence and obnoxious 
activity is passing away from this generation like a bad 
dream? In time to come, when the orthodox devil has fol- 
lowed the "divs" of the time of Darius into the tomb of the 
past, there will remain none the less a true and inexpugnable 
devil in the world, a sum of evil made np by individual ig- 
norance and excess, of disregard of duty toward one's self 
and one's neighbors, a devil within ourselves, which, how- 
ever, will be the more easily attacked, and the more probably 
vanquished, when we shall have recognized that it is no su- 
pernatural force which opposes our appreciation of the en- 
during pleasures which follow in the train of those lines of 
human conduct Avhich we rightly call virtues. 



330 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVA^-. 

In religion, the people of Western Europe, proud of their 
civilization and enlightenment, have been, however, the vic- 
tims of an error now grown inveterate. In daily contempla- 
tion of the doctrines of Christ as the oracles of God, they 
have been surprised to learn that the germs at least of that 
which is most ennobling and sublime in these doctrines had 
been long present in the world before the birth of Christ. 
And instead of feeling strengthened in their faith, and in ac- 
ceptance of these doctrines, by this larger and fuller evidence 
of their truth, and their title to the allegiance of mankind, 
they have been prone, not to abandon these doctrines, for 
that is beyond their power, but to feel, as it were, disap- 
pointed, in learning that ideas which they cherished as su- 
pernatural revelation are not less honored as the transmitted 
experience of humanity. 

A like error has been made in the lesser sphere of art. 
To many generations past, the Greeks have been in art a 
people endowed with capacity for leaping at once into the 
highest realms of knowledge, gifted with genius unapproach- 
able by later peoples; the men^^Avho from nothing, and with 
no previous light, gave to Athens her gorgeous temples, and 
to Rome all that she has known of art. But now a truer 
conception is passing into the mind of the world. Such 
supernatural ability as has been in past times ascribed to the 
Greeks is seen not to be the monopoly, much less the sole 
invention, of any people. The roots of the tree of knowledge, 
it is now perceived, may be hidden, but must exist ; and it 
is understood that the magnificence of Ionic and Corinthian 
architecture could not spring fully clothed even from the rich 
soil of Greece, but that, like every good thing in the pos- 
session of mankind, these must be the results of long and la- 
borious growth, of transmission or transplantation from one 
scene to another in the life of the universe. 

Highest in the records of history stands the foundation of 



PEDIGREE OF ARCHITECTUEE. 331 

the Egyptian monarchy; and it is probable that the oldest 
buildings upon the soil of the earth — the Pyramids of Ghi- 
zeh — were erected about seven centuries after that date, in 
3200 B.C. We know that Assyria was a country of renown 
two thousand years before that birth occurred at Bethlehem, 
in the lower lands of those wonderful valleys of the Tigris 
and Euphrates, from which all Europe, except Turkey, reck- 
ons the beginning of time. We can trace in the sculptures 
of Nineveh and in those of Persepolis a substantial resem- 
blance. We know from the names inscribed, and from other 
evidence, that the latter is the descendant of the former, 
though probably with an interval of a thousand or fifteen 
hundred years. The winged bull of Nineveh has its ances- 
tors in Egypt, and its successors in the same image and like- 
ness at Persepolis. The bulbous columns of Egypt and of 
Nineveh have, in the later w^ork of Persepolis, given birth 
to columns containing features which had not then appeared 
in Greece, but which were soon to be seen there, improved 
and refashioned, if not reproduced, by the most artistic peo- 
ple of the world. The histoi*ical connection is, link by link, 
in the mind of many a school-boy. 

The most illustrious epoch in the history of the country 
we have been treading shows us, first, the victorious Cyrus; 
then the victor of the Nile, Cambyses, the master of Egypt ; 
then, of the same dynasty, the great Darius, who carried his 
legions to Greece, and met defeat upon the Plain of Marathon. 
Again, another association of the Greeks with the Modes 
and Persians occurs through the ambition of Xerxes, whose 
name stands imperishably upon the roll of fame — not for his 
successes, not for his w^orks at Persepolis and elsewhere, but 
for his defeats at Thermopylae and Salamis. Of that period, 
Persepolis is the illustration in sif)ne; and, looking upon the 
ruins, I am quite disposed to concur in the opinion so con- 
fidently expressed by Mr. Fergusson, that " all that is Ionic 



332 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN". 

in the arts of Greece is derived from the valleys of the Tigris 
and the Euphrates." The volute, that distinctive feature of 
Ionic architecture, suggested perhaps by the use of bulls' 
heads or rams' heads in couples for the capitals of columns, 
was in use at Persepolis before it passed to Greece; while 
in Greece there was as yet only to be seen the massive sim- 
plicity of Doric architecture. 

At Persepolis we have witnessed not only the origin of the 
volute, but also the " Greek honeysuckle," before that decora- 
tion had j^assed into Greece ; and there, too, upon the Palace 
of Darius, are those well-known rosettes, so often repeated 
upon Ionic door-ways ; the same which may be seen upon the 
Erechtheum of Athens, and Avhich are faithfully copied upon 
a thousand edifices, including the well-known church in the 
Euston Poad of modern London. Greek art brought out in 
stronger and more perfect form the members of Eastern ar- 
chitecture. The sculptors of Persepolis did not attempt to 
carve their columns in human form, and to lay the burdens of 
architecture upon the heads of slaves. The Caryatides are 
essentially a Greek production ; but is it possible to concede 
to them all the merit of perfect originality when one sees 
vast stones piled upon the human heads of these winged bulls,, 
which in part present to us a form very like that of man ? 

It Avas only in obedience to the setting sun, the god of the 
builders of Persepolis, that we reluctantly turned our backs 
upon the tomb of Darius, and descended by the grand stair- 
case to the plain. May the sun shine upon that, the noblest 
work of Persepolis, in all its present completeness, until it 
shall be in the East as it is in the West, and there shall be no 
more fear of ignorance accomplishing the ruin of the finest 
ascent ever made by human hands ! It is recorded in the 
Second Book of Chronicles, of the Queen of Sheba, that when 
her majesty went into Solomon's house, and saw " the ascent 
by which he went up into the house of the Lord, there was no 



PLAIN OF MERODASHT. 333 

more spirit in her;" she could contain her admiration of his 
works no longer, and her heart poured over with delight in the 
words, " It vKis a true report which I heard in mine own land 
of thine acts." It is hardly possible to doubt that, had she 
been received by King Xerxes at Persepolis, her amazement 
and rapture would have been far greater. It is jDrobable, too, 
that then the plain across which we rode toward the stream 
of the river Araxes, or Bendemeer, was not treeless, arid, and 
waste as at present. We have, indeed, good evidence that 
there, as in so many other places, Persia has gone backward 
in production. Chardin, the French traveler, to whom the 
world has been so much indebted for its knowledge of Per- 
sia, says of this plain of Merodasht, that it is "fertile, rich e, 
abondante, belle et delicieuse." When we passed over it in 
the present year, it produced nothing but a few scrubby 
thorns, nibbled by the goats of the village of Kinara, to which 
our steps were directed. 



334 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Kinara. — A Family House. — A Troublesome Cat. — Housseia Khan and the 
Sheep. — Soldiers and their Debtors. — Zergan. — Persian Scenery. — A Per- 
sian Funeral. — Zergan to Shiraz. — Pass of Allahu Akbar. — Snow-storm at 
Shiraz. — The English Doctor. — Gate of Shiraz. — A Good Persian House. — 
A Present from Firman Firma. — Letter from His Excellency. — A Dervish 
at the Gate. — Meidan of Shiraz. — Visit to Firman Firma. — ^Widow of Teki 
Khan. — Firman Firma's Character. — Poverty of Persia. — Passion-play in 
Mohurrem. — Bazaar of Shiraz. — Tomb of Hafiz. — Odes inscribed on 
Tomb. — Translation of Hafiz. — The New Garden. — Tea in an Imaret. 

Outside the village of Kinara there Avas a hole in the mud- 
wall through which we might have passed the takht-i-rawan ; 
but had we done so, the narrowness of the streets would have 
prevented its approach to the house in which a room had 
been secured for us. We halted, therefore, in a field of young 
wheat, at a place where rubbish had been flung out from 
the houses of the village and over the wall in such quantity, 
that, now it was frozen hard and innoxious as rock, we could 
walk up the slope and over the wall into the village. 

The mode of access prepared us for the characteristics of 
Kinara. The family in whose house we were to lodge was 
much disturbed by our sudden arrival. We had struggled 
through the dirty snow in the narrow street, and entered the 
low door in the mud-wall of the house. In the yard, deep in 
filth, much of which was hai^pily frozen, were two mules and 
a donkey, and about their legs a legion of fowls, of which one 
lay headless at the requisition of Kazem, whose imperious airs 
in a Persian village were sometimes very amusing. Up a 
narrow passage, past a stable in which two donkeys were eat- 



A FAMILY HOUSE. 335 

ing straw, there were some mud-plastered steps leading to the 
roof of the buildings surrounding the yard. Upon this roof 
was the shed which it was the delight of the family to let to 
us for the night, with the prospect of some payment in the 
morning. 

Like the roof, our apartment was of mud. In the hole 
which was the door, there was a shutter of wood, which could 
not be made to close by half a dozen inches; and in the hole at 
the farther end, which served as a window, there w^as nothing 
to keep out the frosty wind until we stuffed a saddle-bag into 
the refrigerating aperture. The roof was extensive ; and in 
another place there was a second shed, in which the family 
hay and melons were preserved, and into which the contents 
of our apartment, previous to our occupation, were hurriedly 
thrust by the retreating inhabitants, some of whom sat on 
the roof, while some stood among the other animals in the 
yard, contemplating with avid interest every one of our move- 
ments. Upon any pretense, and sometimes without pretext, 
one of them would appear upon that portion of the roof which 
was in front of our place of refuge ; and at last I was obliged 
to draw a line upon the dried mud, and intimate that I should 
deal in a summary manner with any who overstepped that 
boundary. Whatever they had to bring must be laid down 
at this line, and none but Kazem might pass over it. The 
precision of this arrangement met with the entire satisfaction 
of the family. But there was one member — a black cat — 
whom I could not instruct, and through the evening and 
night this green-eyed monster sought, often with success, to 
violate the sanctity of our mud -cabin. To secure greater 
privacy and higher temperature, I had nailed a camel's-hair 
rug inside the imperfect door, and, as a fortification against 
the cat, had weighted the lower end with heavy stones. As 
for the wooden door, that, like nine doors out of ten in Persia, 
presented no hinderance; and with time on his side, the tom- 



336 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

cat was always more successful than I with the rug. Twice 
in the bitter cold of the night I expelled the enemy, and re- 
newed our defenses. But the cat was always victorious, and 
in the morning I found he had been successful in carrying off 
the greater part of a tongue which had been jDlaced in a po- 
sition, as I believed, of absolute securit}^ On the whole, we 
w^ere not sorry to leave Kinara. But, forgetting the squalor 
of the village and the lodging, looking across the five miles 
of level plain to the still visible ruins of Persepolis, with their 
high background of mountains varied in color as in shape, we 
were ready to admit that it would be difficult indeed to name 
a scene of greater natural beauty or of higher antiquarian in- 
terest. 

Our way to Zergan, the next station, wound through low 
hills at nearly a continuous level. About midday we came 
to a bridg^e crossing: a river which was swollen and foam- 
ing with melted snow. There was a wretched hovel at hand, 
from which half a dozen of Housscin Khan's ragged tofan- 
ghees emerged, and hovered round us while we sat in the 
only patch of shade, to make a luncheon of lamb and eggs. 
During the morning their chief had possessed himself of two 
more sheep from flocks which were feeding near our path; 
and we felt so indignant at the continuance of this system 
of robbery, carried on under our eyes, and probably, in the 
opinion of the victims, with our connivance, that we resolved 
to be silent no longer, and desired Kazem to ask Houssein 
Khan for an explanation of what w^e wished him to tell the 
khan appeared to us nothing better than robbery. The cap- 
tain of the guard sat on a stone close by, with his ivory-hilted 
sword laid across his knees, a dagger and two pistols in his 
belt, when Kazem delivered my demand for an explanation 
of his conduct. I could see he was very much disturbed by 
the inquiry. He came himself to explain that he had done 
no wrong in taking the sheep; he declared that they repre- 



ZEEGAN. 337 

sented a payment on account of loans he had made to the 
peasants, and that this was the only way he could obtain con- 
sideration for his advances. Although Kazem smiled incre- 
dulity as he assisted me in comprehending Houssein Khan's 
explanation, I was obliged to accept it, and to admit that 
possibly it might be correct, although I do not believe there 
was a word of truth in his statement. It is, however, un- 
questionable, that in Persia money-lenders are most often 
soldiers — the only class which feels strong enough to secure 
payment. This is so general, that a defaulting debtor is 
looked upon as in a particular degree obnoxious to the mili- 
tary class, who, if they ge.t an opportunity, subject him to 
severe ill-treatment 2^our encourager les aiitres in the pay- 
ment of their borrowings. I have met with people who have 
seen the dead body of a debtor, stripped naked and dragged 
by the heels with a rope, in the midst of a party of soldiers, 
through the bazaars of one of the chief towns in Persia, by 
way of warning to those who owe money not to fail in dis- 
charging their obligations to the usurious military before 
they pay the debt of nature. 

Houssein Khan was in a very black humor when we re- 
sumed our journey, toward the end of which there lay be- 
tween us and Zergan a vast morass, extending for miles from 
mountain to mountain. The charvodar and he had had a 
quarrelsome difference of opinion as to which was the best 
path, and I decided, much to the disgust of the soldier, that 
the muleteer should select the way for the caravan. He had 
the greater property at stake. He and his mules were in- 
habitants — natives, in fact — of the village we were approach- 
ing, and the result justified my decision. 

We met a string of dromedaries coming out of Zergan. 
Their swarthy riders were seated between the humps of the 
animals, enduring the swaying motion, and passing us with 
imperturbable gravity. " English reserve " is a common sub- 

15 



338 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

ject of joke, but it is certainly not greater than Oriental re- 
serve. It is more true, perhaps, that the reserve i:)racticecl 
on some occasions by Englishmen appears inconsistent with 
the absence of reserve upon other occasions. But in the des- 
erts of Persia and Arabia it is common experience to meet 
but one or two persons in a whole day's journey, and not by 
any means uncommon to pass these without uttering a word. 
Sometimes the ejaculation " Salaam !" is exchanged between 
one or two of the members of a caravan, but a j^rolonged 
greeting is of very rare occurrence. 

I was about to say that the situation of the chapar-khanah 
at Zergan is very remarkable ; but I am conscious that in all 
Persian scenery there is a sameness in certain features, though 
these have invariably a peculiar beauty of form and coloring. 
The mountains are never out of sight, and in January there is 
always snow in the landscape. When the jDlains and hillsides 
are visible, there are always the browns peculiar to Oriental 
scenery ; and when there is a village, the flat roofs of mud, 
and straight walls of the same color and material, give an un- 
mistakable character. At Zergan the plain was so narrow 
that all these features were brought in unusually close con- 
tact. At sunset, when the raoollah of the village, too poor 
to have a minaret, was standing on the roof of his mosque, 
and crying, " Allah-ah-ah-ah-u akbar-ar-ar-ar " in the tones to 
which we had become accustomed at night and morning, I 

• walked for a long time on the roof of the stables (which is, 
as it were, the terrace of the bala-khanah) enjoying the scene, 
watching how the silence of the plain seemed to deepen with 
the lengthening shadows, and the rose - color of the distant 
snow turned first to a pale gilding, and then to iron-gray, 

, and the bell of a mule coming to rest for the night resounded 
for miles in the still, clear air, given over by the parting sun 
to the dominion of frost, which immediately sealed all until 
the morning. 



A PERSIAN FUNERAL. 339 

I was awaked by a direful wailing of many voices, and, 
hastily turning out upon the roof, saw a funeral passing from 
the village to the grave-yard upon the plain. In Persia, as in 
Turkey, great haste is generally made in burial ; the bearers 
hurry along, unwilling to keep the soul from rest in earth. In 
this case, the body was wrapped or swathed in white linen, 
and laid on a bier, the mummy-like form of the corpse being 
entirely exposed. In front, the wallers, professionals proba- 
bly, trotted at a pace a little faster than would be possible had 
they walked at their utmost speed ; the bearers, of whom a 
relay followed the body, did their best to keep up, and the 
succeeding crowd of mourners and sympathizers straggled 
onward as they could. 

This was the 26th of January, and we were happy in the 
thought that we were about to rest in Shiraz after the fa- 
tigue of traveling. For eighteen nights, from Ispahan, we had 
endured the miseries of chapar-khanahs and caravanserais. 
With the exception of one day's painful rest at Yezdikhast, 
we had ridden, on an average, for eight hours every day ; and 
as we rode up and down the snowy hills toward Shiraz, we 
longed for a sight of the famous city in which we were to be 
for some time the guests of an Englishman. The snow was 
deep, and the road almost the worst we had met with. Un- 
derneath the soft snow there were hidden bowlders of every 
shape, upon which our horses and mules stumbled and slip- 
ped. In places where the sun had power, the hoofs of the an- 
imals were covered with slush at every footstep. We had 
not gone half-way from Zergan to Shiraz, when the sun dis- 
appeared behind thick clouds, and the magnificent panorama 
was closed by a heavy fall of snow. 

In the mountains, slouching through the snow, we met two 
rather large parties of armed men, who would possibly have 
shown themselves to be robbers had we been less strong; 
and at length, in a hollow, we dismounted at a ruined cara- 



340 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

vanseraij and awaited Kazem's preparation of a stew. The 
good little man was bringing it toward where I sat, almost 
shivering, upon the frame-work of a well, near to ray wdfe, 
who did not leave the shelter of her takht-i-rawan, when his 
foot slipped, and the savory mess fell into a hopeless quag- 
mire of mud and snow. We had to put up with less com- 
forting provision. But what did that matter. In three hours 
we should be in Shiraz. We mounted again, and rode up 
and down over hills of which we could not see the end. 
Progress became very difficult on account of the snow, which 
every hour fell fast and faster. I saw it was the intention 
of our guard to creep away and leave us to walk through the 
storm. Houssein Khan himself set the example. When a 
projecting rock hid him from my sight, he pressed his horse 
onward, and was soon out of sight. My contempt for the 
whole troop ^vas too great to permit of entreating the soldiers 
to remain and trudge slowly through the snow with the bag- 
gage mules and the takht-i-rawan. Every man of them soon 
trotted off, and we, attended only by our muleteers and serv- 
ants, moved slowly along, the whole caravan white with the 
falling snow, the takht-i-rawan and the baggage fringed with 
icicles. We had passed the last summit, and were descend- 
ing from the path of Allahu Akbar in a gorge, the grandeur 
of which was perhaps enhanced by the severity of the w^eath- 
er, when we met the English doctor, Mr. Odling, who had 
kindly invited us to stay at his house in Shiraz, attended by 
a stalwart Persian groom. Both were mounted on splendid 
horses, and well armed. The doctor wore a long coat of En- 
glish frieze, and riding-boots; a young man wdth the strong, 
quiet manner characteristic of Yorkshiremen — a man of 
whom, at first sight, one would say that he was well chosen 
for the service in which he had engaged. He had some diffi- 
culty in reining his fiery horse to our caravan pace. Worse 
traveling I had never known. Snow and stones, and mud 



SNOW-STOEM AT SHIRAZ. 341 

beneath, and above a cold, blinding drift and fall, which 
froze where the lingering warmth of the body did not melt 
it into greater discomfort. 

From the high hills by which Shiraz is approached by way 
of Ispahan, a broad path leads down to the city. In other 
places it would be called a road ; but where wheels are never 
seen, such a Avord might be misleading. Had the day been 
clear, we should have enjoyed from these hills one of the 
finest view^s in Persia. Close beside the path, as it slopes 
into Shiraz, is a grave-yard, with a garden attached — an in- 
closure in which dark-green cypress-trees rise high above the 
Avails. In this place rest the remains of the poet Hafiz; and 
about a mile farther to the left, in another inclosure of the 
same character, Sa'di was buried. Upon the right of the 
road is a garden, also set with cypress-trees, Avith a pavilion 
or palace at the higher end — a A^ery favorite resort of the 
Shirazees, Avho carry their tea-pots there, and, sitting on their 
heels upon the open floor of the pavilion, enjoy the view over 
the flat roofs, the blue domes, the minarets, and the green 
" chenar," or plane-trees, of the city, bounded by the opposite 
mountains rising high above Shiraz, and inclosing that which 
they fondly belieA'e to be "the hub" of the univ^erse. This 
quotation is the more permissible, because there is some par- 
allelism between the reputation of Boston in the United States 
and that of Shiraz among the Persians. Shiraz is pre-eminent- 
ly the literary city of Persia. 

But in the snoAV- storm Ave had no disposition to turn 
to right or left, cA'en to do homage at the grave of Hafiz. 
Straight on Ave pushed, until, at a council including the doc- 
tor and the charvodar, it Avas decided that the takht-i-raAvan, 
three feet Avide, seven feet high, and in length perhai^s not 
more than that of three mules, could not pass through the 
town, and that it would be necessary to ford the river, and 
enter the walls as near as possible to Mr. Odling's house. 



342 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN". 

I shall never forget the mud inside the gate of Shiraz. It 
was about a foot deep, and spread from wall to wall. A 
labyrinth of walls and narrow ways rendered the farther 
progress of the takht-i-rawan impossible. We had, at the 
entry of this famous city, to j^lace my wife on a led horse, 
and to have the takht-i-rawan carried in the hands of men, 
because, with the more extended length of harnessed mules, 
it could not follow the windings of the miserable streets of 
Shiraz. That operation of " swapping horses while crossing 
a stream," which Abraham Lincoln condemned as the height 
of impolicy, is as nothing compared with the manoeuvre we 
were forced to effect in this sea of mud. At last we arrived 
at a brick wall, in which was the door of Mr. Odling's house. 
For the kindness and ability with which he conducted, under 
the double oppression of a snow-storm and of a Shiraz crowd, 
the difficult arrival of ourselves and our train, I have an un- 
fading recollection of esteem and obligation. 

There is no one of the Englishmen resident in Persia — and 
we became acquainted with all — of whom we retain a higher 
opinion than of Mr. Odling, partly because no one is more 
careful to vindicate the superior characteristics of his coun- 
try, by the continued observance of them in a land where, 
as a rule, right appears to have no significance but that of 
might. His home in Shiraz is a good Persian house of the 
usual style; mud- built, of course, with no view from with- 
in of the external world, and with rooms arranged upon 
paved terraces around two small quadrangles, in which there 
are the usual tank and bit of garden — the latter, in his 
case, set with orange -trees. The walls of the rooms in a 
house of this sort are finished with fine plaster, whitened, 
and paneled with recesses in which pictures, books, or china 
may be placed. The fire-place is always the same — a hole in 
the wall beneath a flue; and the floors, of course, are more or 
less covered with carpets, those best productions of Persian 



PEESENT EROM THE FIEMAN FIEMA. 343 

industry, with their unrivaled blending of soft colors. When 
we arrived, and indeed during the few days of our stay in 
Shiraz, the quadrangles of Mr, Odling's house were heaped 
high with snow, including a large quantity thrown from the 
roofs. It is obviously unwise to allow a great weight of 
snow to melt on the mud-roof of a Persian house. Careful 
housekeepers always remove it quickly; and upon the roof 
of every Persian house in which there is pretension to good 
management, a cylinder of stone is always kept, to solidify 
the roof by rolling after wet weather, and upon the occasional 
application of a new layer of wet clay. 

Houssein Khan had orders to report our safe arrival to the 
Firman Firma (the Decreer of Decrees), and I sent at the 
same time by a servant a letter of thanks to his excellency, 
together with a vizierial letter from his brother, Mirza Hous- 
sein Khan, the Sipar Salar. Early the next morning the in- 
evitable present arrived. This time it was much bigger, 
more imposing in its arrival, and more useless, in fact, than 
before. Preceded by the Firman Firma's major-domo, whose 
every stride was marked with a movement of his silver- 
mounted wand, walked several servants, followed by negroes 
bearing the present on their heads in huge trays of metal 
each a yard in diameter. Three were piled with oranges, 
and in others there were arranged ten large china plates full 
of sweetmeats. Shortly after all this was delivered, a hand- 
some young Persian, the governor's aid-de-camp, the " nazir" 
of his excellency's household, arrived with the following let- 
ter from the Firman Firma, which is not only in the French 
language, but is without the slightest touch of Persian manner: 

" MoN^siEUE, — J'ai eu le plaisir do recevoir la lettre de 
S. A., et je m'empresse de vous reiterer mes sinceres fehci- 
tations pour votre arrivee dans cette ville. 

"Demain, vendredi a midi, je vous attends avec le plus 



344 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

grand plaisir. En attendant je vous prie de vouloii* bien 
presenter mes respectueux hommages a Madame Arnold. Je 
m'imagine des fatigues qu'elles a dti endurer pendant un voy- 
acje en ces froids. 

" Je vous prie d'agreer I'assurance de ma parf aite conside- 
ration. Yahia." 

One may live for months in a Persian house without ac- 
quiring any knowledge whatever of that which is to be seen 
outside the door. Upon our arrival in Shiraz, I had been so 
confused by the falling snow and the mingled noise of por- 
ters, muleteers, soldiers, and servants, that I had taken no 
notice of the surroundings. In the bustle of arrival, I had 
not even observed the mud-hut in which a dervish lived close 
by Mr. Odling's door. On coming out, this holy man took 
care there should be no such omission, lifting his voice with 
ever-increasing loudness until he attained his object. It is a 
common circumstance inPersir.n towns for one of these relig- 
ious mendicants to plant himself near the gate of any house 
of unusual importance. Of course, the residence of a giaour 
was not the cause of this particular dervish's presence. A 
Moslem house joined the residence of the Christian doctor, 
and one of the city gates lay close at hand. The situation 
was therefore a good one for a religious beggar ; and a der- 
vish, though upon one occasion he will not be sparing of his 
curses, which are always the only words fit in his mouth for 
Christians, has, as a rule, no objection whatever to money 
from the hands of unbelievers. The dervish at the door is 
regarded by Persians as a nuisance which must not be rudely 
expelled ; much as an English squire or farmer of the olden 
fashion looks upon the summer birds which build their mud- 
dy nests in the angles of his porch, with a lingering belief in 
his mind that, after all, there is perhaps something in the old 
doggerel, which says. 



MEIDAN OF SHIEAZ. 345 

*'Martens and swallows are God's best fellows." 
For my own part, I would far rather hear the twdtter of the 
swallow, as a morning call, than the "Allahu akbar " of a self- 
imposed dervish at my gate. But, then, there is no account- 
ing for taste ; and the dervishes find that a lazy life, with a 
noisy devotion to religion, insures an easy livelihood. 

Twenty steps past the dervish over the frozen slush, w^e 
arrived in the smaller " place," or meidan, of Shiraz. On 
one side stands the governor's palace; the other three sides 
are occupied with the blank walls of houses and yards. Pav- 
ing has never been attempted in Shiraz, and the meidan is in 
hills and holes, according as the traffic and the exigencies of 
the people, in the disposition of rubbish, have madci it. There 
are two or three miserable trees before the governor's palace, 
which was apparently at one time fenced from the open space 
by a wall of mud -bricks, with stone piers. But the stones 
have long since been cast down; they lie broken on the 
ground, with much debris from the ^vall. The front of the 
palace has no architectural pretensions : under a heavy chalet 
roof there are window^s, one story above the ground -floor; 
but the windows and frames are broken, the mud plaster has 
fallen off in large patches from the wall, and on every side of 
this meidan the walls are in the same condition. Over all 
there is the usual aspect of ruin and poverty, so general 
throughout Persia. 

Under the gate-way lounged some of the Firman Firma's 
servants and soldiers. On seeing us, they led the way to a 
brick staircase, with steps inconveniently high, to a part of 
the palace at some distance from the meidan, pulled aside the 
hangings of Manchester cotton, stamped with Oriental pat- 
tern, from a door-way, and ^e were in the presence of His 
Excellency Yahia Khan, brother of the prime minister, and 
husband of a sister of His Majesty the Shah. Yahia, com- 
monly known as "the Firman Firma," is also Motemid-el- 

15* 



346 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN. 

Mulk ; and the title of the princess, his wife, is Izzet-ud-Dow- 
leh. Her highness was the widow of the murdered Ameer- 
el-Nizam. The Shah's repentance for the crime of consent- 
ing to the death of the Ameer led his majesty, as we have 
seen, to betroth his two young daughters to the sons of the 
Ameer; and the same feeling induced him to bestow the 
princess, whom he had made a widow, upon the Motemid-el- 
Mulk, whom he afterward styled " Firman Firma." 

Yahia Khan is the most accomplished and Europeanized 
man in Persia. His manners are charming, and there can be 
but very few Asiatics who have such easy command of the 
French language. If he were a man of firmness, vigor, of 
strong and lofty ambition, Yahia Khan might do great things 
for his country. But one sees at a glance that, though supe- 
rior to his brother in culture, and probably in moral worth, 
he has not the energy, the boldness, or the j)Ower of intrigue 
of Mirza Houssein Khan. He wore a military undress of 
European cut — the only governor who had not received me 
with all the jewels and ornaments at command. In this and 
many other points, the superior civilization of Yahia Khan 
was evident. His apartment was not unlike a barrack-room 
in officer's quarters : the walls white and bare, the floor cov- 
ered with matting, with two carpets laid upon it. Chairs are 
always scarce in Persia ; there were only three in the Firman 
Firma's room — two (for Mr. Odling and myself) besides the 
arm-chair of the governor, which he compelled me to accept. 
The British agent, a native of rank, the Mirza Hassan Ali 
Khan, a man of very agreeable manners and of much culti- 
vation, arrived as soon as we were seated ; and, gracefully 
accepting Yahia Khan's apology for the absence of a fourth 
chair, took his seat, in probably greater comfort, upon the 
floor. All the weakness of the Firman Firma's amiable char- 
acter appeared in his conversation. Of the ills in the condi- 
tion of Persia he was in no Avay ignorant; of amendment he 



POVEETY OF PERSIA. 347 

had nothing to say. I did not expect much in that direction 
from a man who, while drawing a splendid income from the 
province, was content to leave the front of his house a heap 
of ruins. It is this supine submission to the process of decay 
which is the bane of Persia. From highest to lowest, every 
thing is administered as if the only object of those in power 
were to seek their own momentary advantage ; as if, in fact, 
the Persians held the country as yearly tenants, and nothing 
more. When Sir Lewis Pelly was (in his capacity as polit- 
ical resident at Bushire) in official communication with the 
Government of Shiraz, he showed his true aj^preciation of 
the political system of Persia in a report to the Bombay Gov- 
ernment : "A ," he wrote, "gives to his subfarmers permis- 
sion to collect the revenue by force : this is done. Next year 
some of the peasants are fled ; some of the land is lying waste. 
The country, in brief, is revenued as if the Government were 
to end with the expiry of the governor's lease." 

The Firman Firma had but one word of exj)lanation con- 
cerning the condition of Persia ; the country, he said, was 
" very, very poor." There had been a few robberies lately in^ 
his province, but he believed it was generally quiet (he has 
since been recalled, owing to his inability to control the tur- 
bulent people of Shiraz) ; he should provide us with an armed 
escort from Shiraz to Bushire, which he had intended should 
be ten men and an officer; but as I preferred to have only 
two sowars, he would give orders that but two, and those the 
most trustworthy, should accompany our caravan. He pro- 
vided the customary entertainment of tobacco, tea, and coffee, 
and was most polite in desiring to do any thing which could 
conduce to the comfort and pleasure of our stay in Shiraz. 

I had one favor to ask — a very small one — but I thought it 
would be more proper not to put it to him personally; and 
on leaving I directed the attention of his " nazir," or control- 
ler, the same agreeable young man who had brought the Fir- 



t348 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

mau Firraa's letter soon after onr arrival to the large tent 
adjoining the palace, in which during the first days of the 
Mohurrem, then just commenced, there was acted the repre- 
sentation of the closing period of the life of Houssein, the 
grandson of Mohammed. I was aware that this taziah, or 
theatre, was visited daily by the Firman Firma and the la- 
dies of his auderoon, as well as by hundreds of the people of 
Shiraz ; and I requested, if his excellency thought my visit 
would not be displeasing to the people, and therefore a pos- 
sible embarrassment to himself, that he would kindly make 
provision for our admittance to witness the performance. 

For days this strange "passion-play" of the last days of 
Houssein had been going on, and for days it would continue. 
On the tenth day, the tearful tragedy of his death at Kerbela, 
with that of seventy of his followers, would be represented. 
The canvas of the large tent had, I should think, been pur- 
chased in England or in India. On three sides the theatre 
was closed in by the walls of the precinct of the palace. Upon 
the top of these, and covering the fourth side, the canvas was 
arranged. The whole of the centre of the tent appeared to 
be the stage. It seemed that no scenery was introduced, but 
the events were made life-like by the employment of soldiers, 
camels, horses, and mules, of which there were generally some 
standing outside the theatre. These were, for the most part, 
splendidly equipped, and lent for this sacred occasion by the 
governor and great people of Shiraz. 

The young nazir called at Mr. Odling's the next evening, 
and, expressing the great regret of his excellency, said that 
the Firman Firma thought it better we should not visit the 
theatre. The mooUahs would certainly object, and he feared 
there might be a disturbance. We therefore failed in this re- 
spect in Shiraz, as we had failed in Teheran. 

The Persians are so strict in excluding Christians from 
their religious places that we had some doubt if we should 



TOMB OP HAFIZ. 849 

be able to enter the cemetery in which is pLiced the tomb of 
Hafiz. "We rode in single file through the crowded bazaars, 
and soon gained the broad way by which we had entered Shi- 
raz. Leaving our horses outside the gate, we entered the 
raud-built gate and walked among the dark cypresses. An 
open mosque stood at the higher end of the grave-yard, which 
was full of tombs, and at the other end there were charming 
views, through the cypress groves, of the blue sky and the 
snow-covered mountains which lay on the farther side of the 
valley in w^hich is placed the city of Shiraz. There were two 
moollahs near the mosque, wearing white turbans and long 
robes of green. One of these ran toward us, but not with the 
intention of objecting to our entry. Mr. Odling's dog had, 
unobserved, left the grooms, and followed us into the ceme- 
tery. It was against the presence of the Christian "dog" 
that the demonstration of the moollahs was made ; and, though 
we aided in expelling our dog, we thought it an affectation of 
religious zeal on the part of the guardian priest, inasmuch as 
all the while there, stood near the quiescent moollah a Persian, 
and, by hypothesis, a Moslem dog, which appeared quite at 
home, and welcome, in this pleasant and most picturesque re- 
treat. . 

Our offending dog having been thrust outside, we were at 
liberty to look at the grave of Hafiz, which is placed about 
the middle of the square inclosure. The ground is thickly 
beset with tombs, mostly flat, like that of Hafiz, but none so 
exquisitely carved, nor, like his, of marble. Hafiz's tomb is 
covered with a single block of the beautiful marble of Yezd, 
of which about eighteen inches appear above tlie ground. 
The upper surface of this fine slab is nine feet long by two 
feet nine inches in width. In the centre there is an ode, writ- 
ten by Hafiz himself, of which the following is a translation, 
founded upon that made by: Mr. Binning: 

"Proclaim the good tidings of oneness with thee, that 



350 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

above this transitory life I may be lifted immortal. A bird 
of Paradise am I; my heart's desire is to fly to thee, away 
from the traps and temptations of this world. If thou shouldst 
deign, in thy great mercy, to call me thy faithful servant, how 
joyously would I take leave of the mean concerns and miser- 
able vanities of this transitory existence ! 

" O Allah ! from the bright vapors which surround thy 
throne, pour out upon me a flood of the graces of thy good- 
ness, before I am borne away like dust before the wind. 

" Come hither, O my loved ones, to my tomb, with wine 
and music ; and possibly, at the sound of your cheerful voices 
and the music of your melody, I may cease from slumber, and 
rise from among the dead. 

" Though I am aged and weak, do thou, if it be but for one 
night, fold me in thine embrace, so that on the m.orrow I 
shall arise from thy side re-endowed with the bloom and the 
vigor of youth. 

" Come forth and show thyself, O type of all good ; mani- 
fest thyself, so that Hafiz may bid adieu to this life and to 
this lower world." 

Raised in low-relief, this ode, in the beautiful letters of the 
Persian alphabet, occupies the centre only of the slab. Round 
the edges, in a band about four inches deep, aj^pears another 
ode, which has been rendered into the following words of En- 
glish : 

" O my soul, be thou the servant of Allah, the king of the 
universe, and be thyself a king. Seek to abide forever under 
the care and protection of Allah. 

" The enemies of the true faith may be many ; but a thou- 
sand of them shall count as naught, and they shall be as nothing, 
even though hosts of such unbelievers should cover the hills. 

" To-day, O Ali, we live by thy power. By the souls of the 
holy Imams, be thou a witness on our behalf in the world to 
come. 



THE NEW GARDEN. 351 

" He who bears not true love toward Ali is no better than 
an infidel, even though he be most devoted in his prayers and 
the most learned in the mosque. 

" Go, kiss the sepulchre of the eighth Imam, the prince of 
the faith, Reza, and stand expectant on that sacred threshold. 

" O Hafiz ! choose thou the service of Allah, the all-pow- 
erful, and go forward boldly in the right path." 

The tomb is probably not yet two hundred years old. 
From this interesting place we passed to the " New Garden," 
which is not far distant, and commands the same charm- 
ing views of the valley and mountains of Shiraz. There we 
met with a party of " softas," theological students, who had 
brought a samovar and charcoal, cups and saucers, sugar and 
tea, from the town. They invited us to join them in a cup of 
tea, which we all enjoyed upon the ruined floor of an " ima- 
ret," a palatial pavilion which had been gay and grand in the 
days of Shah Abbas. 



o5ii THEOFGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Literature of Persia. — Hafiz and Sa'di. — Contemporary of Dante. — Mr. 
Bicknell's Translation of Hafiz. — Consulting Hafiz as an Oracle. — Nadir 
Shah and Hafiz.— Hafiz's Fragments. — " Tetrastiehs " of Hafiz. — Sa'di's 
"Bustan."— Sa'di's "Gulistan."— Extracts from " Gulistan."— Sa'di's 
Wit and Wisdom. — Gardens of Shiraz. — Slaves and Slave-brokers. — En- 
glish Surgeons and Persian Patients. — Influence of Russia. — Mr. Thom- 
son and Mr. Bruce. — Indo-Persian Telegraph. — Major Champain's Re- 
ports. — A View of the Neighbors. — Persian Homes. — Government of Shi- 
raz. — Eeliats in Ears. — Attack on a Caravan. — A Vengeful Government. 
— Cruel Execution of Robbers. — Firman Eirma superseded. — Taxation 
in Persia. — The Shah and Shiraz. 

The literature of Persia is not extensive, and that which 
exists is little known outside the empire. But in any survey 
of Persia, however hasty, some notice must be taken of the 
works of the two great poets, Hafiz and Sa'di, both natives of 
Shiraz. There is, no doubt, immense difficulty in translating 
their writings. Hafiz, the lateV of the two, has been dead 
nearly five hundred years. Imagine a Persian with a smat- 
tering of English (Europeans very rarely acquire a thorough- 
ly competent knowledge of the Persian language) as it is 
spoken to-day set to translate Chaucer into Persian ! Dante 
was contemporary with Hafiz. Fancy the difficulties which 
the writings of Dante would present to a Persian who had 
but an imperfect acquaintance with the colloquial Italian of 
the nineteenth century ! 

For my own part, I have no confidence that in such trans- 
lations as have been made we obtain a thorough understand- 
ing of the poet's meaning. But we should not therefore re- 
ject them. Mr. Herman Bicknell has made a very praise- 



HAFIZ AND SA'dI. 353 

worthy attempt to render the poetry of Hafiz into English 
verse.* This is not the place to express my opinion of his 
success. I have read the greater part of his work, and I am 
not sure if the difficulty inseparable from the undertaking is 
not injuriously, and needlessly, increased by fitting the trans- 
lation into rhymes. Mr. Bicknell had undoubtedly a rare ac- 
quaintance with the manners and customs, the thoughts and 
fancies, of the East; and it may be justly said that any com- 
parison of the difficulty of translating Hafiz truly into English 
with that of rendering Chaucer and Dante into Persian is 
not strictly fair, because the East is not as the "West. The 
changes which have taken place in Persian and in Persia 
since the time of Sa'di and of Hafiz would seem as nothing 
w^hen placed beside those which divide England and Italy of 
the fourteenth century from those same countries in the nine- 
teenth century. 

There can be no question of the high repute in which Hafiz 
has been, and is still, held by his countrymen. He died at 
Shiraz in 1388. Mr. Bicknell, in the introduction to his work, 
alludes to a custom of which I have often heard in Persia, and 
which, I believe, is still practiced in Shiraz. He says : " The 
admiration for the Odes had increased to so great an extent 
before the death of Hafiz in the year of the Hijrah 791 (a.d. 
1388), that it became customary to consult them to discover 
future events ; and this practice is still continued in the East 
in various ways. One method, after breathing over the vol- 
ume, is to utter an invocation such as the following : 

" ' Hafiz of Shiraz, impart 

Foreknowledge to my anxious heart !' 

The book is then opened at hazard, and the first couplet which 

* "Hafiz of Shiraz : Selections from his Poems." Translated from the 
Persian by Herman Bicknelh London : Triibner & Co. 



354 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN". 

meets the eye is taken as an answer to the question of him 
who consults the oracle. 

" When Nadir Shah was engaged in hostile operations 
ao'ainst the Afghans, it is related that he performed a * ziya- 
rat,' or pious visit, to the tomb of the poet, and had recourse 
to the Divan to know whether it would be expedient to con- 
tinue the war. The couplet lighted on was the following : 

" ' O Hafiz, by thy dulcet song, Irak and Fars are raptured ; 

Now haste, that Baghdad and Tabriz may in their turn be captured !' 

Such an omen was, of course, hailed as auspicious. Baghdad 
and Tabriz were accordingly attacked, and rescued from the 
Turks. On account of the supposed heterodoxy of certain 
passages in the Divan, difficulties were raised as to the inter- 
ment of Hafiz with the rites of religion. The poetic oracle, 
however, being consulted, all doubts were set at rest by the 
following couplet : 

" 'Wish not to turn thy foot away from Hafiz on his bier: 

He shall ascend to Paradise, though steeped in sin while here.' " 

The following is Mr. Bicknell's translation of one of the 
Odes of Hafiz : 

"Thou whose features, clearly beaming, make the moon of Beauty bright, 
Thou whose chin contains a well-pit which to Loveliness gives light. 

" When, Lord ! shall kindly Fortune, sating my ambition, pair 
This, my heart of tranquil nature, and thy wild and ruffled hair? 

"Pining for thy sight, my spirit, trembling on my lip, doth wait, 
Forth to speed it, back to lead it, speak the sentence of its fate. 

"Pass me, with thy skirt uplifted, from the dusty, bloody ground: 
Many who have been thy victims, dead upon this path are found. 

"How this heart is anguish-wasted, let my heart's possessor know : 
Friends, your souls and mine contemplate, equal by their common woe. 



IIAFIZ'S "fragments" AND " TETEASTICHS." 355 

" Aught of good accrues to no one witched by thy narcissus eye : 
Ne'er let braggarts vaunt their virtue, if thy drunken orbs are nigh. 

"Soon my Fortune, sunk in slumber, shall her limbs with vigor brace ; 
Dashed upon her eyes is water sprinkled by thy shining face. 

" Gather from thy cheek a posy ; speed it by the flying East; 
Sent be perfume to refresh me, from thy garden's dust at least. 

"Hafiz offers a petition : listen, and 'Amen' reply; 
On thy sugar-dropping rubies let me for life's food rely. 

*' Many a year live on and prosper, Sakis of the court of Jam, 
E'en though I, to fill my wine-cup, never to your circle come. 

" East wind, when to Yazd thou wingest, say thou to its sons from me, 
May the head of every ingrate, ball-like 'neath your mall-bat be ! 

" What though from your dais distant, near it by my wish I seem ; 
Homage to your king I render, and I make your praise my theme. 

" Shah of shahs, of lofty planet. 
Grant for God what I implore ; 
Let me, as the sky above thee. 
Kiss the dust which strews thy floor." 

From among the " Fragments " which Mr. Bicknell's vol- 
ume contains I have taken this : 

" Oh Shah, an envoy came from Heaven, of huri aspect fair, 
Rizvan-like in his majesty, of Salsabil-like hair, 

*' Of language sound in sense, and sweet, symmetrical, refined, 
Both fair and slight, of virgin mien, and unto jest inclined. 

*' I said : ' To this retreat of mine what cause has made thee wing ?' 
He answered : ' For the Shah I come, that angel-minded king.' 

" Of me, O Shah, for poor am I, that youth has weary grown : 
To gratify his heart's desire, accept him for thine own." 

The key to this poem is contained in a note which informs 
us that the '* envoy " is the genius of Hafiz, who, in the last 



356 THEOUGII PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

couplet, is soliciting the imperial patronage. I will make one 
more extract from the same work, that of the following lines, 
which are placed with the " Tetrastich s " of Hafiz : 

" Pure wine beside a brook 'Tis good to have 

Release from sorrow's nook 'Tis good to have 
Life lasts ten days, as doth the rose's time ; 

A smiling, beaming look 'Tis good to have. " 

Without in the least disparaging Mr. Bicknell's work, 
which I am not competent to criticise fully, I must say he 
has not led me to abandon the opinion that there is a need- 
less loss of Persian aroma in forcing the interpretation into 
rhymes. 

The full name of Hafiz was "Mohammed Shams-ud-deen 
Hafiz." Probably the first of these three names w^as all that 
he possessed in his childhood. Shams-ud-deen, which means 
"Sun of the Faith," and Hafiz, which implies " One who knows 
the Koran," are appellations of honor, which were probably 
conferred upon him in the zenith of his fame. 

A greater than Hafiz, in the opinion of many of the most 
learned Persians, is that older poet, the Sheik Sa'di, also of 
Shiraz. In view of Shiraz, yet farther in the mountains, we 
found the reputed tomb of Sa'di. Sa'di is supposed to have 
been born in 1194 a.d. 

In the preface to his translation of Sa'di's "Gulistan" 
(Hose Garden), Mr. Eastwick says: "It appears that his 
[Sa'di's] father's name was Abdu'llah, and that he was de- 
scended from Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed; but that, 
nevertheless, his father held no higher office than some petty 
situation under the Diwan. From ' Bustan,' ii., 2, it apj^ears 
that he lost his father when but a child; while from the 
sixth story of the sixth chapter of the ' Gulistan ' Ave learn 
that his mother survived to a later period. He was edu- 
cated at the Nizamieh college at Baghdad, where he held an 



MR. eastwick's teanslation. 357 

idrar, or fellowship ('Bustaiij' vii., 14), and was instructed in 
science by the learned Abu-'l-farj-bin-Janzi (' Gulistan,' ii., 
20), and in theology by Abdu'l Kadir Gilani, with whom he 
made his first pilgrimage to Makkah. This pilgrimage he 
repeated no less than fom-teen times. 

" Sa'di was twice married. Of his first nuptials, at Aleppo, 
we have a most amusing account in the thirty-first story of 
the second chapter of the ' Gulistan.' " 

The following is Mr. Eastwick's translation of this mar- 
riage story : 

"Having become weary of the society of my friends at 
Damascus, I set out for the wilderness at Jerusalem, and 
associated with the brutes, until I was made prisoner by the 
Franks, who set me to work along with Jews at digging in 
the fosse of Tripolis, till one of the principal men of Aleppo, 
between whom and myself a former intimacy had subsisted, 
passed that way, and recognized me, and said, ' What state 
is this? and how are you living?' I replied, 

[stanza.] 

" 'Erom men to mountain and to wild I fled, 
Myself to heavenly converse to betake ; 
Conjectm-e now my state, that in a shed 
Of savages I must my dwelling make.' 

[couplet.] 

' ' ' Better to live in chains with those we love, 

Than Avith the strange, 'mid flow'rets gay, to move.' 

"He took compassion on my state, and with ten dinars 
redeemed me from the bondage of the Franks. He had a 
daughter, whom he united to me in the marriage-knot, with 
a fortune of a hundred dinars. As time went on, the girl 
turned out of a bad temper, quarrelsome and unruly. She 
began to give loose to her tongue, and to disturb my happi- 
ness, as they have said. 



358 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

[distichs.] 

" 'In a good man's house an evil wife 
Is his hell above, in this present life. 
From a vixen wife protect us well : 
Save us, God! from the pains of hell.'' 

"At length she gave vent to reproaches, and said, 'Art 
tliou not he whom my father purchased from the Franks' pris- 
on for ten dinars ?' I replied, ' Yes ; he redeemed me with 
ten dinars, and sold me into thy hands for a hundred.' 

[distichs.] 

' ' I've heard that once a man of high degree 
From a wolf's teeth and claws a lamb set free ; 
That night its throat he severed with a knife ; 
When thus complained the lamb's departing life : 
' Thou from the wolf didst save me then, but now 
Too plainly I perceive the wolf art thou.' " 

It is well, in reading the translations of Sa'di, to remember 
the Eastern saying, that " each word of Sa'di has seventy-two 
meanings." 

In the " Gulistan " (Mr. Gladwin's tran&lation), Sa'di speaks 
of a man " stringing himself upon the cord of our acquaint- 
ance ;" and, adoj)ting his metaphor, I will endeavor to string 
this illustrious Persian more thoroughly upon the cord of 
our acquaintance by a few additional quotations from the 
" Gulistan." 

He was evidently anxious, above all things, to obtain the 
favor of the king for himself and his work, though there is no 
reason to doubt that the following loyal effusion contains the 
expression of his genuine convictions: "A king," he writes, 
"is the shadow of God, and a shadow should be the image 
of its substance ; the disposition of the subject is not capable 
of good unless it be restrained by the sword of the sovereign ; 
any peaceable demeanor which is observed in the world orig- 
inates in the justice of princes; but that sovereign's judg- 



(( 



EXTRACTS FEOM THE " GULISTAN." 359 

ment can never be just whose rule is founded in wickedness." 
This last sentence being, as Sa'di evidently supposed, of a 
most venturesome character, he adds that it " met Abaca-an's 
fullest concurrence ;" and then with regard to the work in 
hand, the " Gulistan" itself, he writes, "It will be really com- 
plete when it shall have met a favorable reception at court, 
and obtained the indulgent perusal of that prince, the asylum 
of the world, shadow of omnipotence, ray of gracious provi- 
dence, treasury of the age, refuge of the faith, fortified from 
above, victorious over his foes, arm of triumj^hant fortune, 
luminary of resplendent piety, most illustrious of mankind, 
glory of orthodoxy, Sa'ad, the son of the mighty Atabak, all- 
powerful emperor, ruler over the necks of the people, lord- 
paramount of Arabia and Persia, monarch of the sea and land, 
successor of the throne of Solomon, Mozuffar-u'd-deen," etc. 

In a less servile mood, Sa'di avows, " I swear it were equal 
to the torments of hell to enter into paradise through the 
intervention of a neighbor;" and in a higher tone he says, 
" Be undefiled, O brother, in thine integrity ; washer-men beat 
none but dirty clothes against a. stone." 

The ways of kings and of their followers have not, it seems, 
changed in Persia during seven hundred years. Sa'di lays it 
down as proverbial that " from the plunder of live eggs, made 
with the sanction of the king, his troops will stick a thousand 
fowls on their spits." But subjects must not complain of 
kings ; for "to maintain an opinion contrary to the judgment 
of the king were to steep our hands in our own blood ; verily, 
were the king to say, ' This day is night,' it would behoove 
us to reply, 'Lo, there are the moon and the seven stars !' " 

" Draw the foot of contentment within the mantle of safe- 
ty " is an expression of rare wisdom, one which may well have 
made any one of Sa'di's readers " drop his head on the bosom 
of reflection." 

" Do not sprinkle his sore with the salt of harsh words," 



360 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAX. 

and " Withdraw the hand of reproach from the skirt of my 
fatality " (or destiny), are among the sayings of this work. 

Sudden death, in the flowing Persian of Sa'di, is rendered, 
"All at once the foot of his existence stumbled at the grave 
of being, and the sigh of separation burst from the dwelling 
of his family." 

Sa'di could say pretty things of a lady as of a king. An 
Irish peasant once said to an English peer, " May every hair 
of your head be a mold-candle to light yer to glory !" But 
Sa'di was even more extravagant: "Wert thou," he wrote, 
" to seat thyself upon the pupil of mine eye, I would court 
thee to remain, for thou art lovely." 

The following sentences must conclude my extracts from 
this very remarkable work : 

" While the body of a fat man is getting lean, a lean man 
must fall victim of hardship." 

"If in place of a loaf of bread, the orb of the sun had been 
in his [a stingy merchant's] wallet, nobody would have seen 
dayhght in this world until the day of judgment." 

"Whenever thy hand can reach it, pluck out thy foe's 
heart ; for such an opportunity washes anger from thy brain." 

" Whoever sees gold lowers his head, even though, like the 
scales of Justice, he has iron-bound shoulders." 

"Were they to take the ass of Jesus to Mecca, on its re- 
turn from that pilgrimage it would still be an ass." 

"The money of the miser comes out of the earth when he 
himself enters into it." 

The works of these great writers will not pass away ; they 
are safely enshrined in letters which are frequently repro- 
duced. We should be glad if we had the same confidence 
that the remains of the tombs, and halls, and palaces of Cy- 
rus, of Darius, and of Xerxes, which adorn the road from 
Ispahan to Shiraz, were equally assured against neglect and 
injury. 



SLAVES AND SLAVE - BROKERS. 361 

Shiraz is famous for its "gardens," which, however, are 
not gardens in the English acceptation of the word, but rath- 
er shrubberies ; groves of orange and cypress trees, delicious 
in their checkered sunlight and shade, in the views from be- 
tween the trees ; containing lovely vistas of grove ending only 
at the far-off mountains ; inclosures, melancholy with ruined 
marble tanks and imarets (as the pavilions are called), falling 
slowly to decay. 

Inside a Persian city there is nothing picturesque, except 
in association with the many-colored dresses of the people. 
In the larger meidan, or open space, of Shiraz, I saw one man 
kill an ox and another a sheep, and begin to dress them in 
the place where they fell, which seemed a "note" of great- 
barbarism, as if it were no matter at all where the slaughter- 
ing of butchers' meat was carried on. Slaves are very nu- 
merous in Shiraz ; and there are persons who act as brokers 
for the sale of this " property," not by public auction, but by 
transfer from one family to another. In this way the chil- 
dren of the slaves of one household are sold into another. A 
young boy was pointed out to ns who had been lately pur- 
chased for thirty-five tomans. The English doctors in Per- 
sia, and also the French doctor who attends the Shah, are in 
great request among the higher class of natives, especially in 
cases where surgical skill is required. But the European 
doctors never undertake a very serious case without a bond, 
sealed by the patient and his nearest relatives. By this doc- 
ument it is arranged that half the sum to be paid for the op- 
eration is to be delivered beforehand, and the other half if 
the sick man recovers. It is always further agreed that un- 
der no circumstances is the doctor to be held liable for the 
results of his operation, which, as is natural in the very grave 
cases to which alone their attention is summoned, are not 
rarely followed by death. The operation most commonly un- 
dertaken in this way is lithotomy ; and I have heard it said 

16 



362 THEOUGH PEKSIA BY CAEAVAN. 

of the French surgeon who resides in Teheran that he lias 
been successful in a greater number of cases than even Sir 
Henry Thompson himself. 

"Morning calls" form a recognized part of Persian eti- 
quette; and among those who honored us with this sort of 
attention during our stay in Shiraz was the priest of the small 
Armenian community, a man most pitifully poor, and aj)23ar- 
ently without hope of improving his miserable condition. If 
he could send a sufficient present to his bishop, then he might 
get nominated as priest to some position in India or Java, 
where he would obtain a good income. But he sighed hope- 
lessly at the impossibility of acquiring the amount of silver 
which was requisite to move his spiritual father. The ritual 
of the Armenian Church is very severe ; and the priests are 
enjoined, before administering the sacrament of bread and 
wine, to spend half the previous day in the " hamam," or 
bath, and then to fast all night without sleep. Such Chris- 
tians, in a place like Shiraz, lead a fearful life, under every 
disadvantage that bigotry, injustice, and the absence of any 
possible publication of their wrongs, or official representative 
of a foreign power to whom they may appeal, can bring upon 
them. If a case of flagrant oppression and cruelty occurred 
as far north as Tabriz or Teheran, it is probable that, if his 
attention were called to it, the Russian minister or consul 
would interfere ; and there is no doubt that the Russian Lega- 
tion at Teheran can command the action of the Shah's Gov- 
ernment. 

I have not observed an equal readiness to move on the 
part of the English minister even in those affairs in which 
his influence would be greatest. When Mr. Bruce had tele- 
graphed a message informing Mr. Thomson of the dangerous 
invitation to murder which the Zil-i-Sultan had rashly and 
thoughtlessly uttered in Ispahan, Mr. Thomson neglected the 
common obligation of courtesy, and of proper consideration 



MR. THOMSON AND MR. BRUCE. 363 

for the dangerous circumstances of the missionary. He sent 
no acknowledgment whatever of the receipt of this urgent 
message. Mr. Bruce thouglit it his duty, in a matter of such 
great consequence, to support this message with a full state- 
ment of his case, and to send by special messenger to the 
British minister in Teheran an elaborate report of the past 
and present circumstances of his school. I was favored with 
an opportunity of reading this paper, a copy of which was, I 
believe, addressed at the same time to the Church Missionary 
Society in London, and I was much impressed with the tone 
of fairness, moderation, and respect in which it was composed. 
There could be no doubt that the school had done, and was 
doing, a great and good work, affording a valuable education 
to the impoverished Christians of the districts of Ispahan, 
and thus enabling them.to improve their condition by emigra- 
tion to British India. It was plain to any one that the mis- 
sionary was isolated, and in great need of the friendly and 
personal support of the minister. When, in these circum- 
stances, he had sent at his own cost a messenger upon an 
eight days' journey across the snows of Kuhrud to Teheran, 
I should not have thought it possible that Mr. Thomson, or 
any one in his position, on receiving this statement, would 
have sent the messenger back upon his long journey without 
a word of acknowledgment. 

On hearing of the return of his servant, the missionary 
hurried from his room to meet the messenger. There was a 
congregation of people to witness the man's return after a 
twenty days' absence, and all heard Mr. Bruce's anxious and 
impulsive question, " You have a letter from Thomson Sahib?" 
" Nothing, sahib," was the reply ; " I was told there was no 
answer." I shall never forget the blank disappointment of 
the missionary. He knew how grievously this reply and his 
chagrin, obvious to all the by-standers, would augment the 
dangers and difficulties of his position. We were not at all 



364 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAX. 

surprised to hear the next morning that in the bazaars of Is- 
pahan and Djiilfa the common talk was that "Thomson Sa- 
liib " cared nothing for what the Ispahanees might do to Mr. 
Bruce ; and it was said that when " Thomson Sahib " got the 
missionary's letter he tore it in pieces and threw the bits at 
the messenger. This and much more of the same purport 
Mr. Bruce heard from his neighbors in Djulfa. I feel sure 
Ml-. Thomson was not inactive in making representations to 
the Persian Government, but he was wrong in leaving Mr. 
Bruce without a word of support in a position of very un- 
usual difficulty. 

For the measures which followed, and for the re-opening 
of the school, I hardly think Mr. Thomson can claim credit. 
Immediately upon hearing of the prince's decree, I wrote 
from my bed, in which I was suffering from fever, to several 
friends possessing much influence at home, begging them to 
move in the matter ; and I think it more than probable that 
Mr. Thomson was impelled, by consequent instructions from 
England in any measures he took, to obtain a reversal of the 
Zil-i-Sultan's arbitrary decree. 

If any one were to ask me, What is there to be seen in 
Shiraz? I should answer, Nothing of interest besides that 
which I have mentioned. No great building, no historic ruin, 
claims attention. One of the best houses in the place is the 
office of the Indo-Persian Telegraph. It is entered from the 
larger meidan. Inside, in the spacious court-yard or garden, 
there were usually some piles of telegraph stores, iron poles, 
and earthenware insulators. The inspectors report that about 
Shiraz a large number of these earthenware appliances are 
destroyed by bullets. Proficiency in placing a bullet in the 
head of an enemy or in that of an antelope is an object of 
desire; and what mark is so good, or, when hit, so telling, as 
the white insulators suspended on telegraph-poles, over all 
the lonely plains and the desolate hills from north to south 



MAJOR CHAMPAIn's REPORTS. 365 

of Persia ? Besides, there is in these a prize, an iron hook, 
which falls to the ground like a bird when the mark is well 
hit, and is valued more highly than a dead snipe or a partridge. 

In the report for 1875-'76 by Major Champain, the Gov- 
ernment Director of the entire service of the Indo-Persian 
Telegraph, the following occurs under the head of " Interrup- 
tions :" " The total interruptions were fewer than in any pre- 
vious year, and amounted in the aggregate to only fifty-nine 
hours fifteen minutes. One break in May, 1875, which lasted 
thirty-one and a half hours, was caused in a rather curious 
way. The line crossed a village not very far from Bushire, 
and this village having been attacked and burned to the 
ground by robbers, the wires were severed by heat, and could 
not be immediately restored. The remaining twenty -seven 
hours of interruption were caused by excessive cold on the 
high ground in the interior of the country. 

" Willful damage has, I am happy to say, somewhat de- 
creased within the past year, although the South of Persia is 
probably in a more lawless condition than ever, and robberies 
and outrages of the worst kind continue. In fact, the road 
from Bushire to Ispahan, and some parts between Ispahan 
and the capital, are so infested with robber tribes, that travel- 
ing is out of the question except for strong and well-armed 
parties. The marauders, however, display no special hostility 
to the telegraph, and rarely touch it except between Bushire 
and Kazeroon. In that district every man and boy carries a 
gun, and the temptation to try the effect of their bullets on 
the iron poles seems to be irresistible." 

In Major Champain's report for 1874-75, he quotes a state- 
ment on this subject made to himself by the local director. 
Major Smith, who reported: "The line between Shiraz and 
Bushire has suffered greatly from willful damage of the most 
purely wanton nature. In that part of Persia every man is 
armed, and it would appear that, in default of more tempting 



366 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

objects, the people amuse themselves by trying their guns on 
the cast-iron sockets of the telegraph-poles. Many insulators 
have also been destroyed in the same j)art of the country for 
the sake of their iron hooks. An effectual remedy for these 
unfortunate propensities of the natives is j^rovided by the 
twelfth article of the Telegraph Convention of the 2d of De- 
cember, 1872, to which the Persian Government has hitherto 
refused to give any effect, on the frivolous pretext, as I un- 
derstand, that the article refers only to the wire, and not to 
the mere adjuncts of posts and insulators. There is no doubt 
that if the provisions of the article were duly enforced, the 
willful damage would entirely cease. As it is, the new iron 
poles are shot down faster than we can put them up. The 
bills for the repair of willful damage already amount to up- 
ward of seven thousand tomans, of which not a penny has 
yet been paid." 

At the telegraph-office in Shiraz, the garden of fifty yards 
square has three broad pavements leading from the- meidan 
to the house — one in the centre, the others at the side-walls. 
Between these there are plane-trees, and at the end there is a 
low terrace of brick, upon which is the ground-floor of the 
house. In this, the large room to the left is the Persian of- 
fice, while in that to the right the Indian and European busi- 
ness is conducted. From the roof of this house, which is of 
unusual height, trouble has been made. It commands a view 
of the interior quadrangle of several Persian houses, and 
many complaints were consequently made when it was first 
occupied by giaours. It is understood that the Persian neigh- 
bors have now grown used to the possibility of this observa- 
tion, and that some are not even displeased when it occurs. 
When we ascended in order to obtain one of the most com- 
prehensive views over Shiraz, I observed that our appearance 
excited considerable interest, and certainly no 'displeasure. 
And if one can withdraw one's eyes from the eternal beauty 



PERSIAN HOMES. 367 

of the mountains and streams round about Shiraz, from the 
general aspect of the flat mud -roofs, above which rise the 
white stems of plane-trees, the dark-green spires of the cy- 
presses, with here and there a brown minaret, or a dome cov- 
ered w^ith a glazing of greenish blue ; if in sight of all this 
one does feel interested in the details of Persian housekeep- 
ing, these are well exposed to view. The ladies may be seen 
lolling upon the floor of their apartments, the anderoon, the 
front of the rooms all open to the welcome warmth of the 
wintry sun. There is nothing on their horizon but the nar- 
row walls of home, and it is not surprising if the apparition of 
persons in strange garb upon a neighboring height is to them 
the most exciting event of the day. Their slaves cross and 
recross the quadrangle from room to room in the performance 
of household duties. The black-eyed children roll and play 
in the same open space. The father, who is patriarch, master, 
ruler of all, rarely appears. He is hunting, or in the bazaar, 
or smoking, or sleeping, or at the palace or the mosque. One 
can not be surprised that as the despotic ruler of his domestic 
realm, in which there can be no interference from without, he 
hates the vantage-ground of this roof from which people of a 
monogamous race presume now and then to look in upon his 
polygamous household. 

The district of Shiraz, which is, I believe, identical witli 
the ancient province of Fars, has, and probably deserves, a 
bad name for disorder. Crimes of robbery and violence are 
much more frequent in this than in the northern part of Per- 
sia. To some extent the crime of Fars may be attributed to 
the mountainous nature of the country, which affords shelter 
from observation, and probable security in case of pursuit, 
for bands of robbers ; but it is also owing to the fact that 
there is a large nomad population, wandering tribes of Eeli- 
ats and others, which, according to the season, pass from 
north to south, or from south to north, in this province, and 



368 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAKAVAN. 

live a ^ypsy life, with the assistance of flocks and herds, and, 
if they are not belied, of much robbery. From Ispahan to 
Shiraz, there are few plains lower than five thousand feet 
above the sea-level. At four days' march south of Shiraz, on 
the road to Bushire, the path rises to above seven thousand 
feet. Soon afterward it falls to near the sea-level, and the 
climate changes in a march of thirty miles from the rigor of 
winter to the genial warmth of verdant spring. To these 
lower lands, the thousands of Eeliats and the other nomads 
of Persia wend their way in autumn, blocking the mountain 
passes with their cattle; and back again they come to the 
highlands when the summer sun has clothed the hills with 
green, and burned up the vegetation of the lowlands upon 
which they have passed the winter. The unsettled habits of 
these people are supposed to conduce to a lawless life. Cer- 
tain it is that, by some people or other, the province is kept 
in perpetual terror ; anywhere in Fars the talk of the road is 
of robbers and of robbery. The traveler who passes safely 
through the realm of the Governor of Shiraz is universally 
held to be fit subject for congratulation. Travelers gather 
together for mutual protection; and Europeans complain, 
when they are victims, that the English Government does 
not exact retribution and indemnity with sufiicient vigor and 
determination. Perhaps, if this charge is well founded, it 
may find some excuse in the unwillingness of the agents of 
any civilized power to rouse the Persian Government to such 
indiscriminate and wholesale vengeance as it is ever ready, 
upon the motion of the minister of a European power, to 
wreak upon its miserable subjects. Shortly before we trav- 
eled through this ill-reputed province, the eldest son of Lord 
ISTapier, of Magdala, passed through Shiraz, on his way from 
India to Teheran, charged with a special mission of observa- 
tion in the Persian capital. He was accompanied for some 
distance by Dr. Waters, who was attached to the Residency 



A VENGEFUL GOYEKNMENT. 369 

at Bushire, and from whose narrative of the incidents of 
their journey I gather the particulars of the attack upon 
theii' caravan. Fortunately for themselves, these gentlemen 
were not with their baggage when it was stopped and rifled 
by a band of about fifty robbers, who killed one of the mount- 
ed guards with a bullet, and with an iron-headed mace — the 
common walking - stick of the Persian peasantry in Fars — 
smashed the jaw of an Armenian who, for the better securi- 
ty of money upon his person, had joined the caravan of the 
Englishman. 

Major iSTapier was, of course, in no way responsible for the 
manner in which the Persian Government pursued and pun- 
ished the men who were guilty, or were assumed to be guilty, 
of this crime. I have been told that the prisoners were taken 
somewhat at hazard, the main evidence being that they w^ere 
near the spot; but there is no doubt that three-and-twenty 
men had their throats cut by the public executioners in Shiraz 
on account of this robbery and murder ; nor that this is a hu- 
mane punishment compared with that by which the Firman 
Firma's predecessor, the Hissam-us-Sultan, endeavored to re- 
press crimes of this sort in the province of Fars. He tried 
throat -cutting, and left the bleeding bodies exposed to the 
view of all comers in the meidan of Shiraz. He tried cruci- 
fixion, nailing the wretches by the hands and feet to the walls 
of the town, and leaving them, under a guard of soldiers, to 
die of exhaustion and starvation. Finally, he tried burial 
alive in pits, or cylinders of brick-work, of depth such as to 
allow the criminal's head to appear above the top. Pinioned 
and naked, the robbers were placed in these short open col- 
umns of brick- work, and a white plaster, not unlike plaster of 
Paris, was then poured, neck-deep, over their bodies, around 
which it set into the hardness of stone. I questioned several 
persons living far apart as to the particulars of this horrible 
punishment; and their substantial agreement left no doubt 

16* 



370 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

on my mind that it had been inflicted, or that the miserable 
men Avho were subject to this most cruel death were in their 
dying hours barbarously ill-treated, on their exposed and de- 
fenseless heads, by the rabble and the soldiery of Shiraz. On 
finding the Firman Firma too weak for the place, the Shah's 
Government have lately endeavored to persuade the His- 
sani-us-Sultan to return to Shiraz. But he has successfully 
pleaded age and increasing infirmity, and another has been 
appointed. 

Such ruthless jiunishment, always uncertain in its venge- 
ance, has never been successful in exterminating crime. The 
sins of the executive of Shiraz are visited upon the peoj)le, 
and upon all who travel among them. The Government 
of Shiraz, in degree worse probably than that of any other 
province of Persia, is a system of oppression, made, with all 
the power and authority and force of the State, for private 
advantage. The taxes are farmed, and, as a rule, the amount 
demanded is limited only by ability of payment ; soldiers are 
taught robbery by being officially engaged in making de- 
mands for money, w^hich they know to be unjust, from the 
all-enduring peasants ; the customs are farmed, and collected 
by the armed servants of the contractor, who is subject to no 
surveillance, and who renders no accounts. Those are ex- 
empt from direct taxation who, possessing the means to ren- 
der them independent of exaction, are the most able to pay. 
Direct taxation in Persia is levied solely upon those engaged 
in production, and the merchant or tradesman pays only in 
respect of his store in the bazaar. In the summer of 1875, 
the dismayed population of Shiraz heard that their sovereign, 
the Shah, intended to make a royal progress to the south of 
his dominions. An order was published that no corn was to 
leave the province, because all might be required for the use 
of the Shah and his retinue. The great people of Shiraz, 
who, of course, could evade this or any other edict, took ad- 



THE SHAH AND SHIRAZ. 371 

vantage of the circumstances, and made money. The poor 
suffered most cruelly. Some say the Shah was bought off; 
that in consideration of receiving so many thousand tomans, 
his majesty agreed not to quit Teheran; and this, which 
sounds so scandalous, is never spoken of by Persians as a 
very extraordinary or even uncommon way of dealing with 
the intentions of the sovereign, his visits being always regard- 
ed as involving extortion and loss, owing to the rapacity of 
his followers, and as an evil which, like capital punishment 
in Persia, may by gift of gold be averted. 



372 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Road to Busliire. — Yahia Khan's Portrait. — To Cinerada. — Last View 
of Shiraz. — Difficult Traveling. — Khan-i-Zonoon. — A Caravan in Trou- 
ble. — A Cold Caravanserai. — Murder of Sergeant Collins. — Death of Ser- 
geant M'Leod. — Advantage of an Escort. — Dashtiarjan. — "Eaten a Bul- 
let." — Plain of Dashtiarjan. — Ghooloo-Kojeh Pass. — A Lion in the Path. 
— Mr. Blanford's "Interview." — Up a Tree. — A Wounded Horse. — Ka- 
leh-Mushir. — Mount Perizan. — Kotul Perizan. — A Solitary Rock. — View 
of Mian-kotul. 

OpiNioJiT was unanimous that it was impossible to march 
with a takht-i-rawan from Shiraz to Bushire. For three days 
it was agreed that a conveyance of that length might proceed, 
but farther than three days' march the paths in the mount- 
ains were too narrow and dangerous to admit of this mode of 
traveling. We therefore left the takht-i-rawan in Shiraz, and 
my wife had to face the prospect of riding for twelve days 
through a country certainly not less dangerous than any oth- 
er, and reported by those who have traversed the Himalayas 
and the Kocky Mountains to be the most difficult road in the 
world. When we were packing up, another incident occur- 
red, displaying the habitual cruelty of the Persian muleteers 
to their animals. One of the string of mules which had been 
brought to Mr. Odling's door for the conveyance of our bag- 
gage had terrible sores upon its legs and back, caused by bad- 
ly fitting harness ; and it was proposed to load this suffering 
animal for the long journey to Bushire. We refused to have 
it in our caravan, and the muleteer, to whom the notion of the 
animal's pain seemed as strange as it would be to others to 
learn that a flint suffered from the presence of quartz in its 



YAHIA khan's POETEAIT. 373 

side, departed to exchange the injured mule for one in a 
sounder condition. 

On the first day we had only two farsakhs to ride to the 
caravanserai at Cinerada. Early in the morning, before we 
set out, the Firman Firma. sent by his agreeable nazir a large 
photographic portrait of himself, " pour souvenir de Shiraz." 
The nazir also brought with him two sowars, who had been 
specially selected as our escort to Bushire. Their horses were 
very much better than ours to look at. Somebody suggested 
to Mr. Odling, who rode out of Shiraz with us, that we looked 
rather like prisoners of war compelled to ride our sorry nags 
into captivity. But in a few days, when we came to the roll- 
ing stones of the mountains, our " yaboos " covered their shab- 
by appearance with glory. 

Shiraz is not a large place ; it does not occupy more than 
half the ground upon which Ispahan stands, and we were 
soon upon the plain, on a westerly course to Ciuerada. The 
snow had melted away in many places, but there was sufficient 
to give a very wintry appearance to the scene, and the weath- 
er was cold enough to make my Persian coat of sheep's wool 
and leather a very agreeable companion. Shiraz stands at the 
junction of three wide valleys. One slopes from the north, 
the way from Ispahan ; another to the west, in the centre of 
which lies the path toward Bushire ; the largest valley falls 
away toward the north-east. 

We took leave of Mr. Odling about four miles from Shiraz 
at the gate of one of the gardens in the neighborhpod of the 
city, and staid a few minutes for a last look at Shiraz. Per- 
sian towns seen from that distance leave no vivid impression, 
and this is as true of Ispahan and Teheran as of Shiraz. If 
they were grandly built, if they contained monuments of real 
value and of permanent interest, these would probably look 
unimportant in the wide plains and beneath the mountains of 
Persia. But their buildings are so insignificant, so imperma- 



374 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

nent, such rubbishing masses of mud-brick, with no beauty 
of form or ornament, that even large cities have no appear- 
ance of dignity, and are indeed overlooked in the contempla- 
tion of the grander features of the landscape. 

My wife was mounted on a stout gray pony, which had very 
decided ideas of its own as to the proper mode of going to 
Bushire. By no persuasion could it be induced for more than 
a moment to alter its pace from a steady, plodding walk, and 
my chestnut was very much of the same opinion. The snow 
became more wide-spread, and the wintry afternoon darkened 
as our path wound through the valley. We could see far 
before us up the snowy steep, and were beginning to think 
it possible we had misunderstood the distance to Cinerada, 
when suddenly, behind a spur of rock, we came upon the car- 
avanserai. 

We had no more troublesome march in the whole journey 
than that from Cinerada to Khan-i-Zonoon. Several caravans 
had gone before us since the last great fall of snow, and the 
mules, treading always in the same track, had worn the snow 
in high ridges, higher than those of a deeply plowed field. 
Wheli the sun shone out, the bottoms of these furrows be- 
came filled with water, which froze in the night, and some- 
times the ice between the ridges would bear the weight of 
our horses, and sometimes not. When it bore, the animals 
often slipped; when it was thin, their feet crashed through 
with a jerk distressing to the horse and to the rider. There 
was but one track, and the whole caravan passed up the 
mountain in Indian file. Soon after noon, we had ascended 
about two thousand feet from Cinerada to a height of nearly 
seven thousand feet above the sea-level. But we found it im- 
possible to keep the caravan together. Kazem had fallen at 
least half a dozen times in 'the deep snow, and his black mule, 
his saddle-bags, and himself bore many traces of these tum- 
bles. The baggage mules had similar disasters, and after four 



KHAN-I-ZONOON. 375 

hours' toilsome ride we had lost sight of servants and bag- 
gage — a circumstance which the sight of one or two ugly- 
looking parties of armed men who had met us in the narrow 
track rendered more disquieting. There was no place in 
which we could dismount, and nothing to eat if we had done 
so, for Kazem, our store-keeper, was far behind — we knew not 
where; and we were in a wilderness of drifted snow, cross- 
ing ridge after ridge, always hoping that each would be the 
last, and always disappointed. 

Our two soldiers, Abd-ullah and Hassan, had kept up with 
us. I sent the latter back to bring up and protect the bag- 
gage, and, with Abd-ullah and my wife's gholam, we resolved 
to push on and, hungry as we were, to get to the caravanserai 
as quickly as we could. On the way we met a large caravan 
bringing merchandise from Bushire, some of the loads upon 
the mules extending six feet from side to side. This in- 
volved our plunging out of the track into the deep snow, and 
occasional sad knocks of the knees and shins against the 
passing packages. Far behind we could see Hassan, with 
his carbine erect upon his knee, standing on the summit of 
the mountain waiting for the stragglers, whom we assumed, 
from his contented attitude, were in sight from the point 
on which he stood. Presently the caravanserai of Khan-i- 
Zonoon was seen like a speck upon the far -extending des- 
ert. A rill began to trickle down the mountain, which wid- 
ened to a stream, and, lower, became a river, of which the 
surface, frozen from side to side, remained unaffected by the 
midday sun. Upon the narrow plain, at the end of which 
lay the caravanserai, there was a scrubby forest, through 
which we passed upon a slippery and dangerous path. Some 
donkeys loaded Avith bags of wheat were being driven by 
two miserable -looking Persians through the wood; and of 
the number more than half had fallen, and lay helpless on 
our path beneath their heavy loads. In a hollow, the sides of 



376 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

which were a mass of ice, there was one of the loads, with no 
animal beneath it ; the donkey, in its struggles after falling, 
had probably succeeded in extricating itself from sacks and 
saddle-bao's. Abd-ullah and our muleteer were in advance of 
us, and w^e saw them seize the saddle-bags as a prize, and 
turn out from them a quantity of bread, which they began to 
stuff into their pockets. We had been nearly eight hours on 
the road, with nothing to eat, and they seemed to regard this 
as a godsend, taking no thought that this bread was proba- 
bly the only food of the donkey -drivers during the same 
journey, in a much colder time of day. We rode up to them 
and forced them to put back the bread, which, although the 
caravanserai was now close at hand, they did most unwilling- 
ly. It seemed to us that this readiness to rob on the part of 
two men, really superior to the lowest class of Persians, was 
very indicative of the predatory instincts of this uncivil- 
ized and ill-governed people. We made a fire in one of the 
smoke-dried brick arches of the caravanserai ; and, as there 
was nothing with which to construct a seat, had to stand 
about or sit upon the earthen floor for two hours until the 
baggage mules arrived. Then a covering was nailed over the 
door-hole, matting and carpets laid down, our iron bedsteads 
set up, one on either side of the chimney-hole, in which some 
logs were burning cheerfully, a cloth spread upon our camp- 
table, and we sat upon our folding-stools until Kazem appear- 
ed with a hot stew of rice and meat, and a bottle of very 
good Shiraz wine. Our fire had been burning for hours 
when we took to our beds at ten o'clock, and placed a cup of 
milk in the recess close by the chimney. The fire continued 
burning till nearly midnight; and at half -past five in the 
morning the frost was so intense that, although the ashes in 
the fire-place were still red, the milk was frozen in a solid 
block, and some soapy water which I had left in a large 
brass hand-basin on going to bed was in the same condition. 



MUEDER OF SERGEANT COLLINS. 377 

Yet we were in 29° of latitude, and very little more than six 
thousand feet above the sea-level. 

Our ride to Dashtiarjan was hardly less difficult, on account 
of the ridgy snow, than that of the previous day. We found 
it imj^ossible to do more than two miles an hour. The road 
was in such a bad state, we could not walk, and in the early 
hours of the ride we w^ere blue with cold. The path was uu- 
level, and would have seemed varied and picturesque if it had 
not been for the unchanging glaring white of the deep snow. 
In a basin between two hills, a pole standing erect by the side 
of the path marked the place, of the most recent murder of 
an Englishman by Persian robbers. We had already heard 
the particulars of this fatal attack. The victim. Sergeant 
Collins, of the Royal Engineers, engaged in the Telegraph 
Service, was riding with his wdfe and servants from Shiraz 
to the next station, which is at Dashtiarjan. He was chal- 
lenged, surrounded, and fired at from the woods ; he returned 
the fire, and killed one man. But he w\as soon afterward shot 
down, a bullet entering the back of his head ; his body was 
mutilated, and his wife carried off to the mountains, where 
she remained for some days in captivity. I believe the mur- 
derers were never found, and that no one suffered punish- 
ment for the crime. Another sergeant died not long ago in 
a similar way; but the circumstances of his death were hom- 
icidal rather than murderous. The attack upon his comrade 
preyed upon his mind, already disordered by illness and 
drink, until he fancied that every man he met with on the 
road was a robber; and in this delirious humor shot an un- 
offending Armenian. Then he entirely lost self-command, 
and, flourishing his revolver, rode about vowing he would 
shoot the first Persian robber he met with. It was at a car- 
avanserai in which we had passed a night that this mad as- 
sassin made his next attempt, regardless of the fact that there 
were several men with guns in the caravanserai, w^hich, as al- 



378 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAjq". 

most every body in Persia carries fire-arms, is usually the 
case. The wretched sergeant was flourishing about, threat- 
ening every body he saw with his pistol. It was then that 
some of the by-standers, having placed a wall between him 
and themselves, shot him down, really in self-defense ; and 
thus the second Englishman died the death of a mad dog. 

In traveling in Persia, it is undoubtedly safer not to be too 
" ready with the pistol." For our own parts, we felt no very 
confident assurance that we should get safely through the 
country. All the English we met with in Persia told us it 
was highly probable we should be robbed, and that it was 
quite certain our escort would not be very energetic in de- 
fense. In these circumstances, we had deliberately framed 
our plans of action, or, rather, of inaction. We had a letter 
of credit from merchants trading in Persia, upon which we 
could obtain money in Ispahan, Shiraz, and Bushire ; so that 
the silver we carried was only sufficient for the expenses 
of the road between any two of these places. We knew 
that the resistance of robbery by incautious firing involves 
the maximum of danger, and were quite prepared to say 
"Inshallah" to any band against which successful resistance 
would be impossible, and submit to be robbed. We believed 
that nothing less than a band of forty or fifty determined 
robbers would venture to stop a caravan belonging to Euro- 
peans ; and, without the least desiring or expecting that one, 
two, or half a score of soldiers could or would drive off such 
a force, we always preferred to have an escort, because they 
never failed to communicate to the people we met with, and 
by this means to all the neighborhood, that we were specially 
under the protection of the governor of the province ; and 
because attack is not improbably prevented by the fear of 
subsequent recognition by the soldiers of an escort. 

The view from the hills over the plain of Dashtiarjan was 
very remarkable. A plain looks small in Persia when, like 



DASHTIAEJAN. 379 

that of Dashtiarjan, it is about four miles broad and twelve 
miles long. Near the higher and northern end lay the build- 
ings of the telegraph-office, and not far distant the mud hov- 
els of the village. About the centre, a large brownish patch 
three miles long, in the unblemished white of the all-surround- 
ing snow, indicated a deep morass, which is perhaps the cause 
of the ill reputation of this plain for the deadliest fever. 
Dashtiarjan is well known, too, as a hunting-ground for lions ; 
and upon the edges of this morass there are said to be a great 
number of wild hogs. At the foot of the hills an armed 
guard of the Telegraph Service met us. They had been sent 
out by the clerk and inspector, Mr. Anderson, who stood on 
the steps of his bungalow to receive us. His house looked 
like an island in a polar sea, and the face of this intelligent 
young Scotchman, who lived alone in this wild place, beamed 
with the pleasantest welcome. 

" Tve been expecting you for two months, and longing for 
you for a fortnight !" were almost his first w^ords. 

Mr. Anderson gave us a large empty room ; and partly 
from his larder, and partly from our own stores, a good dinner 
w^as provided, of the cooking of which Kazera took charge. 
Whether this habit is universal, or affects only traveling serv- 
ants, I can not say; but we always found that no servant, 
even in his master's house, regarded the cooking-place, or in- 
deed any function, as particularly and exclusively his own. 
When we were guests in a strange house, even for one night, 
our servants seemed to fall into the work as if they were quite 
accustomed to it. At Dashtiarjan, Kazem appeared as cook 
and butler, as hopeful about his dishes, his soup, and his 
stews as he was when we had no one else to look to upon the 
road. 

Mr. Anderson often had to trust to his rifle for supplying 
his dinner, and, to judge from the noise made at night, wild 
beasts of all sorts seemed to be suffering hunger in the snow. 



380 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN-. 

A Persian who came in, using an idiom I had not heard be- 
fore, said that one of these beasts had " eaten a bullet," which 
Mr. Anderson explained is the common mode of saying that 
any person or animal has been shot. The loneliness of such a 
life as that of this young man is greater, and in some respects 
more trying, than I think the Indian Government should call 
upon any one to endure. For months he has no opportunity 
of hearing his own language spoken. In winter, the road may 
be closed at any time for weeks by snow. He lives surround- 
ed by wild beasts, with the semi-savage population of Dash- 
tiarjan for his only neighbors. Mr. Anderson seemed to be 
fighting bravely and resolutely, with the aid of a small library 
of good books, against the difficulties of his situation ; but we 
thought that the real trials of such an existence are not suffi- 
ciently estimated by his superiors, who would do well so to 
arrange their stations that not less than two European offi- 
cers should inhabit the same place. 

Mr. Anderson and one of his tofanghees rode out with us 
in the morning along the plain of Dashtiarjan, when the drifts 
of snow were in some j3laces ten or fifteen feet deep. The 
work of finding and following the shallowest depths made 
our path very circuitous. "VYe skirted the morass, and in 
about two hours arrived at the foot of the Ghooloo-Kojeh 
Pass, a hill covered with scrubby trees, the trunks of which 
were deep in snow. From among the trees, and from the 
overtowering height, we heard the shouts of muleteers urging 
their caravans through the snow. Mr. Anderson left us when 
we began the ascent. He had no opportunity for the use of 
his rifle, though there were foot-marks of wild beasts in every 
direction. ISTo one seemed to fear or to anticipate the pres- 
ence of a lion, though the district we were passing through 
is a famous haunt, and it does now and then happen that a 
villager of Dashtiarjan falls the prey of a hunted or hungry 
lion. 



A LION IN THE PATH. 381 

It was exactly at this point that Mr. Blanford, F.R.S., the 
distinguished naturaUst attached to the Persian Boundary 
Commission, met with a Honess, in March, 1867. His own 
account of the adventure is very spirited and interesting:* 
" It was not till sunset that I entered the oak forest south of 
Dashtiarjan, with five miles of steep mountain road before 
me. Contrary to my usual habit, I carried no gun, being un- 
armed, with the exception of a Colt's revolver of the smallest 
size. I was mounted, I may say, on a bay Arab, fifteen hands 
high. I had crossed a tiny rivulet, said to be a favorite 
drinking- place of lions, and where, indeed, I had often seen 
their foot -prints, and had just begun the ascent of the hill 
by a path covered with loose bowlders, when a tawny shape 
moved noiselessly out of the trees some thirty yards in front. 
Whether my horse stopped, or I pulled him up, I do not 
know, but there we stood ; the lioness, for it was evidently a 
lady, gazing at us, motionless, but for a gentle weaving of the 
tail, and the horse and I looking straight at her. I mentally 
execrated my folly at not having brought a gun, for a fairer 
shot it was impossible to imagine. After the lapse of a few 
seconds, thinking it time to end the interview, I cracked my 
hunting-whip and gave a loud shout, to intimate to her lady- 
ship that she had better clear out, never dreaming for a mo- 
ment that lion or tiger would have the courage to attack a 
man on horseback. 

"To my astonishment, instead of sneaking back into the 
forest, as I expected, she deliberately charged us down hill, 
and sprung at the horse's throat. Whether from miscalcula- 
tion of the distance through the unevenness of the ground, or 
from my jerking the horse's head up with the curb, I can not 
say, but she missed her spring, and came down under my 
right stirrup. With a good-sized pistol I could have broken 

* "Eastern Persia," vol. ii., p. 31. 



382 THROITGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN". 

her spine, as she stood bewildered for a moment ; but to fire 
a bullet hardly bigger than a pea, with only a few grains of 
powder behind it, into the loose skin of a lioness, would have 
been folly ; so I stuck in the spurs, with the intention of mak- 
ing tracks as fast as the nature of the ground would allow. 
But the poor horse was paralyzed with fear; not an inch 
would he budge, till the lioness, recovering from her surprise, 
made a swift half-circle,/ and attacked us from behind ; not 
leaping on the horse's back with all fore legs, as is so often 
represented in pictures of Persian sporting, but rearing on 
her hind legs and embracing the horse's stern with her fore 
paws, while trying to lay hold of his flesh with her teeth. 
As may be supposed, I lost no time in jumping off, with no 
other damage than a tear in my strong cord breeches, and a 
slight scratch in the thighs. Directly the horse felt himself 
relieved of my weight, he reared and plunged violently, send- 
ing me head over heels among the stones in one direction, 
and the lioness in the other. Expecting the brute to be on 
me at once, I pulled out my miserable little pistol, and picking 
myself up as soon as possible, looked about me. There stood 
the lioness, not five yards off, sublimely indifferent to me and 
my proceedings, waving her tail and gazing intently at the 
horse, which had trotted twenty yards down the road. She 
made a few swift steps after him, when I fired a couple of 
shots over her head, hoping to drive her off. The only effect 
was to start the horse off again, when the lioness again 
charged him from behind, and, clinging to his quarters, both 
disappeared among the trees. 

" So far I had had no time to feel much fear, but as soon 
as the source of danger was no longer visible my nerves be- 
gan to get somewhat shaky. Perhaps I ought to be ashamed 
to say that I did not lose much time in ensconcing myself in 
the branches of a convenient oak some twenty feet from the 
ground. A few^ minutes at that secure altitude sufficed to 



A WOUNDED HOESE. 383 

restore my nerves somewhat, and I reflected that there were 
the regulation three courses open to me : to stay where I was, 
to go forward, or to go back. The first involved spending a 
March night on the top of a tree, the bottom of which was 
seven thousand feet above the sea ; and I hate cold. The sec- 
ond presented the not more agreeable prospect of a five-mile 
walk over a villainous road through the forest, with the 
chance of meeting more lions without a horse to take off 
their attention ; moreover, my holster and saddle-bags con- 
tained valuables ; and even if the steed were killed, I might 
recover these by prompt action. I therefore made up my 
mind to follow the horse and his enemy, and, as the shades 
of night were fast gathering around rae, lost no time about 
it. Half a mile down the road I foupd my unfortunate steed, 
bleeding fast from a wound in his quarter, and still in such a 
state of terror that he declined to let me approach him. 

" There was nothing to be done but to drive him out of 
the forest into the plain, which was not many hundred yards 
off, and to walk on to the nearest village for assistance. 
This was the little walled hamlet of Kaleh-Mushir, a mile or 
so off, which I reached without mishap, save an alarm from 
a herd of pigs, which charged past me toward the lake as if a 
lion were after them. 

"A siugle family tenanted Kaleh-Mushir during the win- 
ter. From them I got a little acorn-bread and dates. No 
bribe would induce the man to come out with me that night 
with torches to find the horse; but I found him the next 
morning at day-break, after a night made sleepless by the 
most vigorous fleas I have ever met. The poor brute was 
grazing quietly in the plain, and allowed himself to be caught 
without difficulty. Although his quarters and flanks were 
scored in every direction with claw-marks, only one wound 
had penetrated the flesh, and this to a depth of two inches, 
making as clean an incision as if cut with a razor. This I 



384 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

sewed np, and in a week the horse was as well as ever, 
thousrh he bore tlie scars of his adventure for the rest of his 
hfe. It is, jDerhaps, worthy of remark, that the distance apart 
of the scratches made by the two outer claws of each stroke 
with the paws was between fourteen and fifteen inches." 

When we met the caravans, whose noises we had heard 
upon the hill where Mr. Blanford had had this encounter, the 
difficulty of passing presented itself as serious. Our soldiers, 
after the manner of their kind, began to bully the poor mule- 
teers, and to force the donkeys into the deep snow. The 
shouting was tremendous, and the mules and donkeys vied 
with each othci- in obstinacy, some of them resolving that, at 
all costs, their loads should graze my shins. Three or four 
times on the pass we had a battle of this sort, in which, at 
last, the inconvenience was arranged pretty equally, each car- 
avan taking turn with the other in plunging through the 
deep snow. When we got clear of the jungle, we could look 
back over all the plain of Dashtiarjan ; but the path ascended 
yet far higher to the top of Mount Perizan (the Old Wom- 
an) ; and when at last, after much toil, we gained that ele- 
vation, the sowars and gholams threw up their arms and 
screamed with delight. I had no need to ask the cause of 
their rejoicing. In a moment a strange transformation had 
taken place in the prospect. For weeks our eyes had found 
no repose from the glare of the snow ; for weeks we had seen 
none but a snow-covered landscape. Here, in a moment, the 
scene was shifted as if by magic. From the top of the Peri- 
zan Mountain we looked upon valleys brown upon the sides 
and green upon the level plain. We had nearly done with 
frost ; but we had the worst part of the road before us. 

There is no portion of the way through Persia more pict- 
uresque than the half dozen miles from the Perizan to the 
caravanserai at Mian-kotul. This word " kotul " is only met 
with between Shiraz and Bushire. Between those two places 



VIEW OF MIAN-KOTUL. 385 

there are three " kotuls "—of which the first is thQ. Kotul 
Perizan. The word is one of terror to the traveler, for it 
appears to signify a road the most difficult and dangerous 
which it is possible to conceive — a path upon a mountain's 
side, sometimes upon the edge of a precipice, at others upon 
a descent so rapid as to render riding impossible. But al- 
ways upon the kotuls the path is beset with stones, so num- 
berless and awkward that horse and man pause at almost ev- 
ery footstep to consider where the next advance may be most 
safely made. 

If one rides down a kotul, as we did at Perizan, a feeling 
of recklessness soon sets in. When at any step a fracture of 
the skull is not at all unlikely, one ceases after the first half- 
hour to think much of the danger. We passed corners where 
mule and merchandise are sometimes lost by a fall from the 
precipice into the stony valley beneath. But the beauty of 
the scene culminated at a point where a single peak of rock 
rises seven hundred feet from the centre of the valley, and 
stands, gray and jagged, Avith large birds flying about its 
summit. We might have thought it inaccessible but for the 
evidence of conquest upon the topmost rock, where a tele- 
graph-post was fixed supporting wires, which at great height 
spanned the valley on each side of this precipitous elevation. 

Another remarkable view, which in words can be but poor- 
ly painted, is that which meets the eye after passing this eyrie 
of the Indo-Persian Telegraph. We were slowly descending 
a deep, wide valley, from the hollow of which we were still 
raised three or four thousand feet. On the farthest side ran 
a chain of mountains, their summits appearing to cross the 
horizon in almost a level line. Like a great ridge or furrow, 
these mountains crossed our road from north to south; and 
about half-way down, in the slow descent we were making 
through the scrubby jungle which clothes the western side 
of Perizan, upon a projecting platform of rock, lay the cara- 

17 



386 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. 

vanserai of Mian-kotul (the middle of the kotul). We were 
so high above it that we could see nothing but, as it were, the 
ground-plan of the building; the mules moving like specks 
from side to side of the yard, the roof of the surrounding 
stables like a line ; the whole caravanserai but a spot in the 
immensity of the prospect. 



FILTHINESS OF THE CARAVANSERAIS. 387 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Mian - kotul Caravanserai. — Tofanghees on Guard. — Feuds between Vil- 
lagers. — Kotul Dochter. — Traveling on the Kotul. — The Mushir-el-Mulk. 
— Lake Famoor. — Encampment of Eeliats. — Kuins of Ancient Persia. — 
Plain of Kazeroon. — Songs of Persian Soldiers. — Kazeroon. — Anniversary 
of Houssein's Death. — "Ah, Iloussein!" — Fanatical Exercises. — Orange 
Gardens. — The Sheik of Kazeroon. — Plain of Kazeroon, — Attack on Ma- 
jor Napiers Caravan. — Village of Kamaridj. — Plain of Khan-i-Takhte. — 
Hospitality in Persia. — Kotul Maloo. — A Difficult Path. — Daliki River. — 
Arabs in Persia. — Palm-leaf Huts. — A Loop-holed Bedroom. — Petrole- 
um at Daliki. — Barasjoon. — Rifle Practice, — Indian Officers in Persia. — 
Functions of Political Resident. — Sowars from Bushire. — Caravanserai 
at Ahmedy. — Arrival of Captain Eraser. — The Mashillah, — A Wet Day's 
Ride, — Bushire. 

The caravanserai at Mian-kotul was no better and no worse 
than others. A black arch ten feet by eight, with no win- 
dows, opening by a door-way in which a carpet was the only 
screen, upon a stone platform raised about three feet above 
a yard full of mules and asses, some of them knee - deep in 
the dirt of the place, is not a very charming residence. For 
the last time, the night was cold and frosty ; the next day we 
were to descend more than five thousand feet into a land of 
palm-trees and orange groves, where the raggedness of the 
people would look less w^retched and pitiful, and where pov- 
erty would lose much of its misery. Kazem w^as delighted at 
his own accomplishment, when, under my direction, he turned 
out a dish of eggs and bacon ; but looking at the slices of the 
forbidden meat (which had been exported from the United 
Kingdom by a merchant of Shiraz), he laughed, and said, " N"o 
Iran man eat." His bright eyes beamed with pleasure at the 



388 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

coming change of climate, though he grew more and more ap- 
prehensive as to the safety of the road. " Very bad robbers," 
he said, in an interval of cookery, pointing forward on our 
road to Bushire. Like a prudent man, he had turned the 
heap of silver -which represented his wages and allowances 
into paper at Shiraz. Mr. Odling had kindly taken the silver,- 
and telegraphed the amount to Kazem's credit in Teheran, so 
that of this money he could not be robbed. The transaction 
had given much ease to Kazem's mind. 

Outside the caravanserai of Mian-kotul, the way to Bushire 
descends through a grove of trees to a small i^lain, also cov- 
ered with stunted oaks and some growth of under-wood. 

"We had advanced about a quarter of a mile into this wood, 
when there suddenly appeared seven wild-looking men, each 
armed with a gun and a long knife. They might be robbers 
or friends ; I really could not tell which, as we approached 
them. That they were waiting for us was quite clear. With- 
out a word, they surrounded the caravan ; and presently, with- 
out appearing curious as to their quality, I gathered from 
Kazem that they were men living in the neighborhood who 
proposed to accompany us through part of our way to Kaze- 
roon as an extra guard for our greater security. Several of 
them went on before, dispersed like sharp-shooters, in the 
wood. Sometimes they fired at birds, but I think none fell to 
their aim. After walking about four miles to the centre of 
a small plain below the kotul, they gathered round me and 
made " salaam," at the same time' asking for money. 

It struck me that there could not be very great difference 
between declared robbery and a request which was so much 
like a demand, made by seven armed men, two of whom had 
their hands upon my saddle. However, they were satisfied 
with a small present, and, before dismissing them, I asked why 
they wished to leave us in a part of the plain where, if their 
presence was at all useful, it was certainly most desirable. 



KOTUL DOCHTER. 389 

They told me they could not go any farther, because they 
were " at war " with the men of the next village. That led 
to another explanation, in which Kazem and the charvodar 
joined. From this it appeared that in the parts of Persia 
south of Shiraz there are, as a rule, feuds existing between 
village and village, arising in the first place from some dispute, 
agricultural or matrimonial, between two men, and having a 
fatal result. The friends of the murdered man have then to 
undertake the sacred duty of revenge. Any one of them will, 
at sight, shoot or stab in cold blood any one of the relations 
of the murderer, or, perhaps more correctly, the man-slayer. 
This homicidal disposition ultimately spreads to the villagers 
on each side, and the feud thus becomes a war between village 
and village. 

In the South of Persia we never saw a man or a boy un- 
armed. The donkey-drivers carried long guns slung at their 
backs ; the peasants who were scratching the earth in patcli- 
es with wooden plows were armed in the same way, and most 
of them carried, in addition, a long sword-knife in their gir- 
dle. Every man, in fact, was a tofanghee ; and one of the 
traveler's difficulties is to get rid of those men who spring 
up at the sight of a caravan from the bushes or stones, and 
are ready to be paid guards, or to remain in something very 
like the attitude of robbers if no money is forthcoming. If 
we had not had our two sowars, we should possibly have had 
trouble with these tofanghees of Mian-kotul. 

At the end of the plain, a concealed outlet over a low eleva- 
tion led us to the summit of the Kotul Dochter (the Daughter- 
kotul). Four tofanghees joined us at this point ; and when 
we were obliged to dismount, owing to the difficulties of the 
road, w^e found them useful in getting our horses down the 
kotul. If they had really been robbers, instead of men with 
perhaps a tendency in that direction, they could have chosen 
no more satisfactory place for attack. No horse can make 



390 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

more than two miles an hour over a kotul. One might more 
easily try to trot or gallop over the lava of Vesuvius than 
upon the stones of a kotul ; and of all the kotuls, the " Doch- 
ter " is by far the steepest and most difficult. N"o one at- 
tempts to ride upon the Kotul Dochter. It is a way, partly 
natural, partly built, and partly hewed, in the side of a precii^- 
itous rock about two thousand feet high. 

Half an hour's labor by the small strength of our caravan 
would have closed it altogether. With stones alone a dozen 
strong men could defend the almost perpendicular zigzag 
against a host. Such " gates " are a security to a country ; 
but what a high-road for the commerce of Persia ! When 
one thinks that every piece of Manchester goods passing to 
the markets of Shiraz and Ispahan has to be carried upon a 
mule, stumbling and slipping, toiling up these rude stairs by 
a path so difficult that camels are not employed, it is easy to 
see the advantage of Russia, who sends her manufactures by 
way of Tabriz and Resht. The Mushir, the vizier of the Fir- 
man Firma, who has made himself rich by the subordinate 
government of the province of Fars, has, let it be said to his 
credit, done much, by the erection of retaining-walls, to render 
the Kotul Dochter less dangerous. Many were the loads of 
goods, and many the mules, which were dashed to pieces be- 
fore the improvement of this ladder of stone by the Mushir. 

But the Mushir-el-Mulk, as this functionary was called, has, 
I hear, since we left Persia, met the fate of all energetic rulers 
in that countr}^ For alleged offenses, perhaps for the high 
crime of getting rich and failing to sliare his profits with the 
Shah and the Imperial Government, the Mushir-el-Mulk has, I 
am told upon high official authority, been summoned to Tehe- 
ran, where he has received " the sticks," has been compelled 
to make a large disbursement, and has been formally deprived 
of the profitable position he held as Grand Farmer-general 
of the province of Shiraz. 



ENCAMPMENT OF EELIATS. 391 

Until we saw the Kotul Dochter, we had not fully realized 
why it was not possible for a takht-i-rawan to pass that way. 
In the corkscrew windings of the Kotul Dochter, there Avas 
at times scarcely room for the body of a mule ; and though 
we followed closely, one almost upon the heels of the other, 
yet the leading horse of our caravan was sometimes a couple 
of hundred feet below the rear-guard. When we turned our 
eyes from the rock we were descending by a sort of irregular 
stone ladder, two thousand feet long, we looked over a fertile 
plain — a tender green, where there were patches of young 
wheat, set here and there with groves of palms, which seemed 
to be the only trees ; and to the left lay the shallow, tranquil 
waters of Lake Famoor. It was the 5th of February ; and 
the rose-bushes beside the stony path upon the spur of the 
mountain which led from the foot of the Kotul Dochter to 
the plain were gay with blossoms. These seemed to welcome 
our arrival from the snow, which for nearly fifty days had 
been always under our eyes. A river runs from the lake 
through the plain ; and beside it on the greensward, the past- 
urage of which belonged to any man, was an encampment of 
the much dreaded Eeliats, their low tents of goat's-hair cloth 
stretched on sticks, in which only a year-old baby could stand 
upright — reminding us of the very similar abodes of Bedouin 
Arabs in Northern Africa. 

At the point where the path to Kazeroon is at last level, 
and quite clear of the mountains, there are some interesting 
ruins of ancient Persia. By these we dismounted, and enjoy- 
ed our luncheon in a genial climate. The ruins are those of 
a tomb or a temple, and their interest centres in a large bass- 
relief carved upon the smoothed face of the overhanging rock. 
A monarch, heavily bewigged with false hair, in the fashion 
of ancient Persia, and as marvelously bearded, is seated with 
a lion before him, his chair of state encircled by attendants. 
In front of this work there are the ruins of an inclosure, in 



392 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAlSr. 

which we lingered until it was necessary to get on over the 
plain to the town of Kazeroon. 

We had passed in three hours from winter to summer; 
ray Cabui sheep-skin coat was no longer endurable. The way 
was level and grassy. Birds fluttered in the air ; the graceful 
foliage of the palm-trees waved about us ; the swarthy, Arab- 
like Eeliats, who had migrated from the plains of Ispahan and 
Shiraz on the coming of winter, were here tending their flocks, 
every one of them with a gun at his back and a knife in his 
belt ; and in the far distance, where the palm-trees were con- 
gregated in dense groves, lay Kazeroon, in which there is 
an office of the Indo-Persian Telegraph, kept by an Arme- 
nian, who we knew was prepared to receive us. Hassan and 
Abdullah, our sowars, were singing in their own way, taking 
turns in the monotonous dirge, which is the only singing 
voice of the Mohammedan nations, when suddenly Abd-ullah 
shouted in Persian the word for " antelope." In the twink- 
ling of an eye — to say a moment would seem an exaggeration 
— their horses were at a gallop, and they Avere chasing furi- 
ously over a patch of wheat. Away they galloped, so far as 
to be almost out of sight. First, Hassan fired without slack- 
ening speed ; then Abd-ullah shot ; but there were no results, 
and presently they returned, and resumed their doleful song, 
which was a somewhat stupid rhyme about the charms of an 
imaginary lady, repeated again and again, without the slight- 
est apparent consciousness, interest, or weariness. Sometimes 
the songs of Persians, delivered all in the same tone, are in 
language highly indecorous. Among the Turks as well as 
the Persians, it is observed with surprise by Europeans, that, 
even in the superior classes, talk is habitually indecent, and 
that this immoral flow is not arrested by the presence of 
women and boys. The Vizier of the Zil-i-Sultan, who called 
upon me in Ispahan, a man of great position, and of an ability 
rare in Persia, invited me to an entertainment at his house, 



ANNIVERSARY OF HOUSSEIN'S DEATH. 393 

which I was too ill to attend. Mr. Bruce, the missionary, 
went, and told me on his return how he had been shocked at 
the filthiness of the general conversation carried on, especially 
by the host and father, in presence of his youthful sons — two 
boys whom I had seen riding in Ispahan, attended, after the 
manner of people of their class, by a dozen mounted servants. 

It may be that Kazeroon appears more beautiful on ap- 
proaching it from the snowy mountains than in coming from 
the greater heat of Bushire. To us it seemed the very ideal 
of an Oriental town. There were orange gardens with the 
golden fruit upon the dark-green leaves ; there was scarcely a 
house which was not shaded by a palm-tree. The inhabitants 
live, for the most part, on dates. There were mosques with 
domes of mud, and minarets of sun-baked bricks. The pov- 
erty of the people, the squalor of their huts (many of them 
made of mats hung on poles), all this was as evident as on 
the higher and colder regions. But nobody shivered or look- 
ed pinched and hungry. Two pounds' weight of dates makes 
a good meal, and can be bought for about the value of a half- 
penny in English money. We were delighted with the prom- 
ise of rest as we rode into Kazeroon, and by no means sor- 
ry when the charvodar rode up with Kazem, and, salaaming, 
begged as a favor that we would not travel the next day, as 
it was the day of Houssein's death, and they wished to keep 
the solemn festival in Kazeroon. 

A tofanghee from the telegraph-office had met us about a 
league from the town, and now ran forward to announce our 
arrival to his master, who received us very kindly, placed a 
large empty room at our disposal, and, having done this, set 
himself to telegraph the news of our arrival to north and 
south. We were out betimes in the morning, to see the do- 
ings of the people of Kazeroon in honor of the lamented 
Houssein. From the court -yard of the principal mosque 
we heard the continuous cry, "Ah, Houssein I" "Ah, Hous- 

17-* 



394 THEOTJGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

sein !" arising, and, standing in the door-way, saw the whole 
place was full of men, the surrounding roofs crowded with 
women and children. In the centre, about fifty men had 
formed themselves into a ring, holding each other's hands. 
In this formation, they expanded and contracted the circle, 
advancing and retreating with the cry "Ah, Houssein !" 
uttered in the tone of profoundest grief. This was kept up 
with mechanical regularity for about an hour. Then, when 
every man's brain was reeling with the exercise and with 
watching it, at a word from their leader the men sat down, 
and each one beat his bare breast with his open palm, and 
then clajDped his hand upon his thigh with the common cry. 
This, too, was done with the same precision. We left them 
at this work, and soon after it was understood that the two 
joarties, one holding that day to be the proper anniversary 
and the other preferring the morrow, were disposed to fight 
over the difference. There was some tumult, and the gov- 
ernor ordered that there was not to be the usual procession 
in the streets, of which the leading feature is the slashing of 
their faces and persons with knives, and the consequent stain- 
ing of their white garments with blood, by the most devoted 
mourners for Houssein. The telegraph clerk and I went into 
the streets to see how this order was obeyed, and had got into 
a narrow place, when we heard from a hundred voices the 
cry "Ah, Houssein !" coming toward us. We hurried to an 
outlet, and reached an open space just in time to avoid a 
rushing crowd of men, each one of whom leaped into the air 
as he shouted at every step "Ah, Houssein !" and 'at the 
same time beat his inflamed breast with his hand. Men in 
the condition of those forming this crowd were virtually in- 
sane with frantic exertion and the continuous exercise of the 
same movement. Had we met them in the narrow way, we 
should very likely have been knocked over and trodden to 
death. I felt that, looking on as we were, a single word of 



ORANGE GARDENS. 395 

hatred for the infidel would have been sufficient for the sacri- 
fice of our lives. This production of irresponsible fanaticism 
by shouts and oft-repeated movement, by exercises such as 
these, and such as those of dancing and howling dervishes, is 
as much a part of the recognized machinery of the Moham- 
medan Church as the celibacy of the clergy and the domestic 
fulcrum obtained in the confessional-box are of the Roman 
Church. 

From this scene of noisy and dangerous fanaticism it was 
pleasant, when we were joined by my wife, to pass into the 
largest of the orange gardens, a grove of magnificent trees, 
most of them more than two hundred years old, and all load- 
ed with fruit. The central path through this orange garden 
is a sight to be remembered. From the ruins of the tank in 
the centre, the surrounding orange-trees, the largest we have 
ever seen, presented a delicious appearance. Possibly there 
would not have been so much fruit remaining on the branch- 
es, had the oranges not been of the sour variety. We have 
not met with sweet oranges anywhere in Persia as a product 
of the country. They are imported from Baghdad and other 
places. I can hardly suppose that the deficiency of Persia in 
this respect is due to want of the proper climate or soil for 
ripening sweet oranges. No part of the world would seem 
better adapted for the growth of oranges than the region 
about Kazeroon. At Bushire it may be too hot; at Shiraz 
the winter may be too severe. But Kazeroon, though it is 
two thousand seven hundred feet above the sea, has the cli- 
mate of Seville; the palms prove that the cold is not severe, 
and the corn-fields that there are abundant moisture and 
genial sunshine. On returning from the orange garden, we 
met a small crowd, in front of which walked an old man with 
beard dyed red. His dress was rich ; he had a huge ring of 
silver upon his hand, and a heavy pair of spectacles upon his 
nose. He was the religious Sheik of Kazeroon — the Sheik-ul- 



396 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN". 

Islam he would have been called in a capital — the ecclesias- 
tical mayor and judge of the place, and the crowd was com- 
posed of his retinue attendants. The telegraph clerk pre- 
sented me to the old man, who shook hands, and welcomed 
us to Kazeroon with grave politeness. 

The weather was showery, and there were signs that the 
half of the population which did not assent to the celebration 
of the previous day was preparing to realize its own idea of 
the anniversary of Houssein's death when we rode out of 
Kazeroon. I think Kazem favored the day of our departure, 
and the charvodar that after our arrival, as the proper date 
of this ceremony. However, no objection was made to our 
progress, though we passed through the plain of Kazeroon, 
of which only a few patches are cultivated, under a heavy 
shower of rain. There were abundant evidences of natural 
fertility in the soil, which seemed to need nothing but indus- 
try to be highly productive. At the end of the plain, the 
path mounted toward a small caravanserai, adjoining w^hich 
was a hut built of palm -leaves. We had this swept out, 
and sat on the floor to eat a luncheon of eggs and dates, and 
then, still in the rain, rode up and down among the hill-tops 
— thousfh some of the most favorite haunts of robbers — un- 
til we looked down upon another plain, that of Kamaridj, in 
the middle of which stood the white dome of some Moham- 
medan tomb, and at the farther end the village in which we 
were to pass the night. This was the place where the Hon- 
orable Major Napier's caravan was attacked and robbed — as 
pretty a plain as any in Persia. As we looked down upon 
it from the hills, there were two herds of long-haired goats, 
the only life upon the plain. The ground was sloppy with 
the rain ; and the palm-trees, under which Kamaridj lay, were 
visible for two hours before we reached the villaoje. That 
which in grander spheres would be called a reign of terror 
prevails always in Kamaridj and the villages of Southern 



KAMARIDJ. 397 

Fars. They are at all times liable to that which in higher 
latitudes would be dignified with the names of siege and 
sack. Their efforts to win prosperity are blighted by the 
musket of the tax-gatherer and the pistol of the robber. In 
good and bad years alike, for every one of their palm-trees 
and their bullocks the peasants must pay a heavy charge to 
the costly system of misrule dignified with the name of gov- 
ernment, of which the Shah is the head ; and, in bad years as 
in good, the robber urges his claim to maintenance at the ex- 
pense of the only hard - working class in Persia. For such 
depredation the site of Kamaridj is most convenient, nestled 
under hills in which there is concealment for a troop from 
the eyes of an army. 

Kamaridj was all alive with excitement at the sight of our 
caravan approaching over the plain. Two men, armed, of 
course, ran out about a mile to meet us ; and when w^e en- 
tered not a few of the roofs were occupied with women. 
We found a fairly good room in Kamaridj ; and on the 
morning of February 8th rode over the hills, in a climate 
which seemed perfection, through a country full of the bud- 
ding luxuriance of a Southern spring, to the plain of Khani- 
Takhte, in which there were continuous groves of palm-trees, 
extending for miles an unbroken shade. Our soldiers and 
muleteers sung — not so sweetly as the birds — and the con- 
ductors of the two or three caravans we passed in the day's 
ride were smiling and talkative. N'ear a great patch of palm- 
trees stood the telegraph - ofiice, which was to be our stop- 
ping-place for the night. It was, we knew, uninhabited, the 
clerk having recently suffered an attack of apoplexy, in con- 
sequence of which he had been removed by Mr. Odling to 
Shiraz. A tofanghee was in charge of the place. There was 
something very sad, on entering the rooms, to see the clock 
stopped, the instruments all dead and dusty, and the necessa- 
ries of a European's daily life lying about in disorder — evi- 



398 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

dences of the suddenness of the attack by which the greater 
part of the Ufe of this man had been taken from him. 

The simplicity of hospitality in such a country is fully ex- 
perienced in a case of this sort. In the presence of the mas- 
ter of the house it is very much the same ; the reception of 
visitors is devoid of nine-tenths of the difficulty with which it 
is encompassed at home. One finds an empty room ; the car- 
pets and furniture are taken from the mules' backs, the prop- 
erty of the traveler. For all the trouble they are at, he pays 
the servants of the house ; his own servants prepare and cook 
his food, and in the morning he leaves not a trace of his so- 
journ. 

We were still eighteen hundred feet above the sea. We 
were now to descend by the Kotul Maloo to Daliki, where we 
should be but two hundred feet above the line at which our 
ride was to end — the level of the Persian Gulf at Bushire. 
From the plain of Khan-i-Takhte we looked back on that 
high, serrated ridge of mountains, the other side of which we 
had seen from the caravanserai of Mian -kotul. Indeed, the 
plain appeared to be locked on all sides by mountains, but we 
rode on toward the southern end, where the path suddenly 
disclosed a steep descent upon the side of an almost perpen^ 
dicular cliff. There has been no building at the Kotul Maloo. 
Somehow or other, in the course of years, the hoofs of mules 
and the feet of men have worn a track from one huge stone 
to another, and a zigzag has been formed, which descends at 
gradients of about one in three, but so unequally that every 
step is more or less of a climb. Looked at from the bottom, 
one would hardly suppose the piled -up rocks of the Kotul 
Maloo to be accessible. It is prudent to make some noise in 
the passage, so that, if a caravan is ascending, the mules may 
be made to stand aside in the few places where it is possible 
for one loaded animal to pass another with a similar burden. 
At the foot of the Kotul Maloo the ravine widens, and there 



DALIKI KIVEE. 399 

is a splendid view in the valley beneath of a river, the waters 
of which were rushing when we saw them, and green with 
the nauseous salts which they contain. To the side of this 
river we gradually descended into a valley, through which it 
passed in a broad stream toward a bridge, which is certainly 
the finest in Persia — another work of the Mushir who then 
governed Fars in the name of the Firman Firma. ISTear this 
bridge, the stream, which is known as the Daliki River, turn- 
ed abruptly round high rocks, through a southern outlet by 
which we also passed, after sitting a while near the bridge, in 
a thick growth of beautiful ferns, to eat our luncheon. 

It would have been utterly impossible for an unguided 
stranger to have followed without error the path by which we 
accomplished the remainder of that day's journey. It lay, un- 
marked because of the hardness of the rocks, through a laby- 
rinth of hills. Sometimes we forded the river, at others pass- 
ed for a mile upon bowlders which seemed to bear no trace 
of a track. Then we left the stream, and, crossing a hill, en- 
tered upon an entirely new scene. IS^o part of the way from 
Shiraz was more curious and fatiguing. At last our tired 
horses climbed a rounded hill, which was the final elevation. 
From this we had a prospect over a sandy plain of apparent- 
ly illimitable extent. We could not see the gulf ; but, in fact, 
had our sight been suflicient, and the Persian belief in the 
flatness of the earth established, we might have seen ships 
riding at anchor off the town of Bushire. Near the foot of 
this last hill lay the village of Daliki — a wild place, more Arab 
than Persian — the inhabitants living in huts made of mats or 
of palm-leaves. The general plan of Daliki, like that of all 
the villages upon the plains around the Persian Gulf, is very 
simple. A mud-bank about a foot high incloses the area of 
each hut, and upon this is made a frame-work of palm branch- 
es, covered or thatched with the broad fronds or leaves of the 
same tree, or with mats plaited with strips from the palm- 



400 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

leaves. Daliki is environed with palm-trees. The people of 
Daliki have terrible blood -feuds with neighboring villages, 
and suffer greatly from occasional raids by bands of robbers 
from the mountains. Major Champain, R.E., the Director of 
the Indo-x*ersian Telegraph, informs me that, in passing Da- 
liki a month after we staid in that village, he saw two dead 
bodies lying exposed, those of men slain by robbers, who were 
still in sight, hastening, with their booty, into the fastnesses 
of those hills by which we approached the village. There are 
two huts in Daliki which have a bala-khanah. Of one of 
these we took possession. But the roofing over the mud- 
stairs was so very low that we were obliged to hoist up some 
things with a cord, and to throw up the smaller articles to 
one of the large holes intended for windows. The room was 
nine feet by twelve, and had loop-holes on all sides, twenty- 
four in number. The night was not cold ; we could afford to 
laugh, and call this liberal provision of draughts " airy." At 
times in the night there came through some of the numerous 
holes in our room a smell w4iich reminded me of Russian 
Baku, the Asiatic Petrolia on the Caspian — an odor of naph- 
tha, from the natural springs Avhich lay neglected, and run- 
ning to waste, a little to the southward of the village. 

By a slight detour we visited these springs in the morning, 
on our way to Barasjoon, the next station. There seems to 
be no doubt about the quality or quantity of the petroleum. 
All the streams around us were colored and covered with the 
outflow ; but no one attempts to make use of it. There 
may be under-ground a practically inexhaustible supply, and 
doubtless Englishmen ^vould be found ready to sink wells, 
and to engage in exportation, if it were safe to deal with the 
Persian Government. The wells would not be more than fif- 
teen or sixteen miles from the waters of the Persian Gulf at 
Sheef, and the price of coal in India is certainly high enough 
to encourage enterprise of this sort. 



BARASJOON. 401 

The smell of petroleum was still on the plain when we were 
joined by a number of ruffianly-looking men, who, after walk- 
ing with us for a mile, to my great relief departed in the di- 
rection of the mountains. The ground between Daliki and 
Barasjoon is unlevel, but not hilly. Cultivated patches, all 
unfenced, are few and far apart. In these, wheat Avas wav- 
ing five inches high around bushes which the cultivators had 
not taken the trouble to remove. The sun shone very hotly 
on the 10th of February, as we approached Barasjoon, which 
consists of a telegraph-station, a caravanserai, and a village. 
Throughout the evening there was a continual noise of firing. 
The one amusement of the men of these villages seems to be 
rifle-shooting. They are always striving to improve them- 
selves as marksmen, and as nothing else. Their agriculture 
is careless ; their homes are miserable ; their food, for the 
most part, dates ; they are subject to the most cruel tyranny. 
The governor collects his taxes from them at the head of an 
irresistible force ; their one delight is to be ready against 
their neighbors with their rifles. The head-man or sub-gov- 
ernor of Barasjoon, enthusiastic like the rest in this direc- 
tion, was, we were told, taking shots one evening not long 
ago from the roof of his house, and was unable to resist the 
tempting mark offered by a harmless shepherd, upon whom 
he inflicted a wound from w^hich the man died in two days. 
A resident at Barasjoon told me the story was quite true ; 
that the head-man killed the shepherd only because he was 
seized with a cruel desire, at sight of the man, to have a living 
mark for his shot, and that no punishment whatever had fol- 
lowed this wanton murder. 

On the morning following our arrival at Barasjoon we re- 
ceived a most welcome re-enforcement. We were really de- 
lighted to see the red uniforms and British accoutrements of 
two Bombay sowars, who had been sent to meet us with a 
letter of invitation and welcome by Colonel Ross, the political 



402 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAN. 

resident at Bushire. Perhaps this is as good a place as any 
in which to allude to the connection, amounting to something 
like co-ordinate authority, which has at one time existed in 
greater degree than at present, but which is still maintained 
on the part of the Foreign Office and the Government of 
British India, in Persia. At one time I believe the Legation 
in Teheran was a mission from the Indian Government, dis- 
patched by and maintained solely at the cost of that Govern- 
ment. At present the Indian Government makes, I under- 
stand, a contribution to the cost of the Legation in Teheran, 
and maintains at Bushire a political resident, who is protector 
of the commerce of the gulf, and mediator-general (backed by 
a force of gun-boats) between the tribes upon the Arabian 
and Persian shores, the object being to secure safe and unre- 
stricted intercourse between the towns of the gulf, and free 
communication from India and Great Britain with the inlet 
to the Tigris and Euphrates at Bussorah and up to Baghdad. 

The political resident at Bushire is not subordinate to the 
minister in Teheran, and they are, I should suppose, sufficient- 
ly far removed to render their occasional intercourse free 
from embarrassment. The lines which separate their author- 
ity are probably not defined. In Shiraz, Mirza Hassan Ali 
Khan, the British agent, told me that in applying for leave of 
absence, he obtained permission both from Mr. Thomson and 
from Colonel Ross, though the latter has no connection with 
the Foreign Office, and is an Indian officer on special service, 
under the orders of the Bombay Government, reporting only 
to that Government. 

The sowars he had kindly sent to meet us and to conduct 
us to the Residency were Sikhs ; fine men on good horses, 
wearing scarlet turbans, and long tunics of the same British 
color, high jack-boots, and armed with short carbine and cav- 
alry sword. I noticed they could not make themselves un- 
derstood by our Persian sowars or servants. They had spent 



CAEAVANSEEAI OF AHMEDT. 403 

the night at Ahmedy, and, after some hours' rest, their horses 
were fresh enough to return with us to that caravanserai. It 
was a tedious ride upon almost a dead level of damp sand, 
with small groves of palm-trees each a few miles apart. In 
the last hour when we were in sight of the caravanserai of 
Ahmedy, rain fell very heavily, which made us arrive in great 
discomfort. But the caravanserai was strong and new; it 
was possible to have a fire ; there was not more than one open 
hole in our room, and, when the sky cleared, we spread our 
wet clothes upon poles on the roof, and enjoyed the lookout 
from that place of vantage. The scene was one of life near 
the tropics with an arctic background. There were behind 
us the brown hills over Daliki, and above these the high 
snowy ranges we had passed through from Shiraz. All around 
in the immediate neighborhood of the caravanserai was a 
level of brown sand, which met the shallow waters of the gulf 
at an almost invisible distance. A stream beset with palm- 
trees ran near, and toward this our string of mules was being 
led out to water after the removal of their loads. In this sea 
of sand the rectangular walls of the caravanserai were the 
only interruption. It may strike the reader, as it did myself, 
that the panorama, though remarkable and thoroughly Ori- 
ental, was one which could be painted with little liability to 
error, even from these few and imperfect words of descrip- 
tion. 

Over the sand from the direction of Bushire there came 
galloping a group of white horses. The new arrival was 
Captain Fraser, assistant political resident at Bushire, who 
was out on a sporting expedition, attended by two sowars, 
comrades of those who had joined our caravan, and two serv- 
ants. From his arch in the caravanserai he sent his card to 
our arch ; and shortly afterward I paid him a visit. He had 
come out on a shooting expedition, and, when I left him, we 
received a present than which nothing could have seemed 



404 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAl^-. 

more delightful and acceptable. One of his soldiers brought 
us, with Captain Fraser's compliments, a small loaf of ex- 
quisitely white bread in a cloth of equal purity. We had 
been living upon a supply of Persian bread brought from 
Shiraz, now eleven days old. We had not seen white bread 
since we left Russia, five months ago ; and this loaf, good as 
any in England, had for us, in its setting of snowy linen, a 
charm which it is not possible to describe. When Captain 
Fraser joined us afterward upon the roof, we were rejoicing 
in his thoughtful gift. 

Between Ahmedy and Bushire there is an expanse of wet 
sand extending for about twenty miles, to the possession of 
which the sea on both sides makes pretensions. It connects 
the dry land about Bushire with the main -land of Persia. 
Sometimes the " Mashillah," as it is called, is dry, and even 
dusty, but after rain it is sloppy ; sometimes worse even than 
when we crossed it. We rode over the Mashillah under a 
down -pour of almost continuous rain. At every step our 
horses sunk over the hoofs, and the muleteers were obliged 
to walk barefoot, lest they should lose their shoes in the wet 
sand. We were enveloped in mist; we could see nothing 
but the wet quagmire over which we were struggling. The 
clothes of our soldiers, Indian and Persian, were wet through, 
and the men looked as sulky and miserable as Asiatics always 
do in rainy weather. For half the way we were splashing 
through water, and the rest was swampy. The gholams, who 
had charge of the baggage, failed utterly to keep up with us, 
and I was obliged to send two soldiers to look after them, 
and to bring the mules forward. They were not very willing 
to go back through the rain, and an hour passed before they 
re -appeared with the baggage, but without the gholams, 
whom they left to plod on at their own pace. 

At two miles from Bushire the ground became harder. 
There was a small bank, on which we found a caravanserai. 



BUSHIRE. 405 

We made a fire, and had luncheon there in great discomfort ; 
but it was advisable to wait for some time, in order to get 
the caravan together for our march into Bushire. To reach 
the town, we had to cross a level stretch of sand, a fine field 
for a gallop with better and less tired horses. 

We can hardly express the joy with which we saw the 
union-jack flying on a high mast planted before the sea-front 
of the Residency. Colonel Ross's numerous guard of Bom- 
bay native infantry turned out to present arms on our ar- 
rival; and in the wide court-yard of his house the resident 
himself gave us a kindly welcome. Our ride through Persia 
was ended. 



406 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Bushire. — The Residency. — Arab Towers and Wooden "Guns." — Govern- 
ment in Persian Gulf. — The Arabian Shore. — Arabs and Arabs. — The 
Sultan's Power in Arabia. — Oman and the Ibadhis. — Pilgrims to Mecca. — 
Destiny of Rotten Steamships. — Pilgrims' Coffins. — Six Hundred Arabs 
Drowned. — Persian Land Revenue. — Collecting Customs Duties. — Trade 
and Population. — Commerce of Bushire. — Cultivation of Opium. — Opium 
and Cereals. — Export of Opium. — British Expedition in 1857. — Occupa- 
tion of Persia. — Persian Army in 1857. — Interests of England. — The 
Indo-Persian Telegraph. — Persia Ripe for Conquest. — Persia and India. 

AiE'TER the cliapar-khanahs and caravanserais of the road, 
how Elysian seemed the apartments and the comforts of the 
Residency ! We gladly parted company with all our travel- 
ing-baggage, and Kazem's eyes glistened with delight as we 
made him a present of bedsteads and bedding, fur coats and 
jackets, saddles and bridles, pots and pans, chairs and tables. 
We had a week to enjoy the hospitality of Colonel and Mrs. 
Ross before the next boat of the British Indian Company 
would sail for Kurrachee and Bombay. 

The Residency is a large pile of buildings, with a great deal 
of court below, and a great deal of staircase and veranda above. 
On one of the flat roofs is a structure which is common to 
all the superior houses of Bushire — a room built like a cage, 
with poles and laths, in which the hot nights of summer are 
passed. The town lies behind the resident's house. In front, 
about fifty yards from the gate, there is a sea-side terrace, a 
quarter-deck, as it were, belonging to the Residency, but open 
to all comers ; and below this the waters of the gulf ripple or 
beat upon the sand. At each end of this walk is the ruin of 



ARAB TOWERS AND WOODEN " GUNS." 407 

an Arab tower, a relic of the days of barbarism and piracy. 
In Arab fashion, timbers have been built into the rough ma- 
sonry, and upon the outer side of the shell of these towers 
the weather-worn blocks of wood project, about three feet 
apart. I am precise about these timbers, because, by a cu- 
rious chance, I had happened in Shiraz to meet with an old 
copy of a London newspaper, containing a letter from a trav- 
eling correspondent in the Persian Gulf. He was writing of 
Bushire, and assuming close acquaintance with a place which 
he had evidently seen only from three miles' distance — in fact, 
from the deck of a steamer, while passing down from Bus- 
sorah. He particularly drew attention to the "armament" 
of these Arab towers, which, he said, were encircled with an 
array of " guns." This is not the first time, perhaps, that 
wooden poles have been taken for cannon. But the fact is 
that Bushire is entirely without any remarkable defenses. 
The resident's gun-boat, a part of that unknown force, the 
Anglo-Indian Navy, is generally in the offing, and the milita- 
ry duties of the Persian Governor of Bushire are, as a rule, 
confined to oppression of the inland subjects of the Shah. 
Looking out from the front of the Residency, the gulf nar- 
rows to the right in the direction of Bussorah, and on the 
left, where the sand-bank (at the end of which is Bushire) 
rises rather higher than elsewhere, is the ground on which 
the British troops encamped in 1857. If the opposite shore 
were in range of sight, we might see to the south, Bahrein, 
the emporium of the pearl-fishery. The annual value of the 
pearls found in the Persian Gulf exceeds four hundred thou- 
sand pounds a year. The oyster - shells have a considerable 
value ; for these are as large as a cheese-plate, and the inside 
is the best of that lustrous substance known as " mother-of- 
pearl." 

Upon that— the Turkish -Arabian side of the gulf — slave- 
holding tribes are allowed by the Governments of the Em- 



408 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

press of India and of the Sultan to engage in a moderate 
amount of fighting among themselves. On great occasions, 
the resident at Bushire and his subordinate, the resident at 
Muscat, interfere ; and it is understood that the Indian Gov- 
ernment permits no fighting on the water. On land a system 
of chieftainship prevails, and he who is strongest wins Bah- 
rein. The Sultan of Turkey is nominally the sovereign ruler 
of this wild shore, and suzerain of the chief at Bahrein, and 
also of the petty Sultan of Muscat. But the Turkish Sultan's 
authority is never seen, and rarely heard of. Sir Lewis Pelly, 
who was the predecessor of Colonel Ross as resident at Bu- 
shire, in remarkable if somewhat unofiicial language, reported 
to the Government of Bombay concerning these tribes: "The 
Arabs acknowledge the Turks as we do the Thirty-nine Arti- 
cles — which all accept and none remember." I am inclined 
to think that even this is an exaggeration of the Turkish au- 
thority. I do not believe it is accepted by these lawless tribes, 
who seem to have but one rule of life, which is this : that a 
man's slaves are his own, and that the African is an amphibi- 
ous creature, w^ho, with the cruel alternative of a wire whip 
applied to his back, must live as long as possible under the 
waters of the Persian Gulf in search of pearls for the benefit 
of Arab masters. The reign of anarchy at Bahrein can not 
be more strikingly displayed than in the official report of the 
Bushire resident, that "Bahrein once hoisted in succession 
Turkish, Persian, and English flags." It is even added, " She 
has been known, when attacked, to hoist them all at once." 

Farther to the south, still upon the Arabian shore, we come 
to Muscat and Oman ; and all that is known of these regions 
goes further to show that the Sultan's writ does not run in 
the East of Arabia. Colonel Ross, who was for some time 
resident at Muscat, found the tribes divided under the general 
names of " Hinawi " and " Ghafiri." But it appears that this 
division is not ancient. At the beginning of the eighteenth 



ARABS AND AKABS. 409 

century, in civil wars of unusual magnitude, one set of tribes 
ranged under Klialf, the Hinawi, and another under Moham- 
med, the Ghafiri, whose contentions established divisions which 
have since endured. In the native chronicles of these tribes, 
their historians, or writers, have divided all the tribes of 
Arabs into three classes: 1. El Arab el Arabeh—i. e., pure 
Arabs— those whom they believe to have been created with a 
natural disposition for speaking Arabic ; 2. El Arab el Moid 
arribeh, those who have achieved the position of Arabs by ac- 
quiring command of the Arabic language ; and, 3. El Arab 
el Mosta' ribeh, the naturalized Arabs. 

Of these three classes, the teachers of to-day hold the first 
to have been lost or become extinct. But their devotion to 
the God of Mohammed, and to the great Meccau as the fore- 
most and chiefest of the prophets and interpreters of God, 
endures, though it has become sectarian. For instance, the 
Ibadhis, a very numerous religious body on this coast, reject 
both the Turkish and the Persian doctrine as to the devolu- 
tion of Mohammed's powers and functions. With the Turk 
it is a necessary article of faith to believe that the Sultan 
administers the Koran, as the rightful representative of the 
Proj^het. He has no confidence in civil law, which differs 
from the code of Mohammed. The Sultan is the inheritor of 
Mohammed's authority, though not of his prophetic powers ; 
yet probably millions would accept as the inspired word of 
God any pretended revelation lie might make by way of 
addition to -the Koran. These are not times favorable for 
promulgating supernatural revelations ; but if a man gifted 
with as much original genius and power and capacity for 
leadership as Mohammed possessed were to arise in Turkey, 
he might add Suras to the Koran at his pleasure. But his 
revelations, unless enforced by the sword, w^ould have no au- 
thority among tribes like the Ibadhis of Arabia, nor with the 
Persians. The latter have a belief, somewhat like that of 

IS 



410 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

Christians, that their Imam, or head of their i-eligioii, will 
some day re-appear in likeness of the form he had on earth. 
But the Ibadhis have another belief: they have a visible suc- 
cessor of Mohammed, a true Imam, whom they select. They 
are much given to pilgrimages, which, living as they do in 
the Holy Land of Moliammedans, are for them comparatively 
easy. 

In his "Annals of Oman," Colonel Ross says : "Among 
the Ibadhis, a man must have amassed sufficient for expenses, 
and one year's ordinary expenditure in addition, before he 
makes the pilgrimage to Mecca." The observances of pil- 
grims from this shore are not Axry different from those of 
other sections of Mohammedans. In the Mina valley they 
throw the three stones, typical of Abraham's conflict with 
Satan, when the Evil One sought to tempt the father of the 
faithful. They are taught to regard as essential the follow- 
ing five points of ritual: 1. The spirit or intention in which 
the pilgrimage is imdertaken and carried out ; 2. The duty 
and excellence of prayer on Mount Arafat; 3. Shaving in 
Mina valley ; 4. The proper making of the circuit of the 
House of God ; 5. Running seven times from Safa to Mcrwa. 
It is obligatory that, after putting on the ihram, or garment 
of pilgrimage (which Mr. Bicknell, who made the pilgrimage, 
says consists of only "two towels"), the pilgrim must hunt 
no game and take no life; he may not even hunt to death 
the vermin upon his body ; and if, in a fit of natural irrita- 
tion, a death of this sort should occur, he is liable, upon con- 
fession, to the payment of expiatory offerings. 

The modern pilgrim, whether he is bound for Mecca or for 
Paray-le-Monial, does not select the most troublesome mode 
of travel ; and even native-born Arabs prefer a British steam- 
ship to the perils and hardships of crossing the sandy, food- 
less, waterless desert, which lies between the shores of the 
Persian Gulf and the holy places of Mecca. At sea, it is 



DESTINY OF ROTTEN STEAMSHIPS. 411 

true, they endure .1 maximum of the perils of navigation ; 
but they are ignorant of the comparative safety with which 
Europeans are conveyed in well-appointed ships, and they 
may think that the annual sacrifice of life enhances the grand- 
eur and importance and the glory of pilgrimage. Since the 
invention of steam navigation, the shores of Asia have been 
strewed with the bodies of Mohammedan pilgrims. Mr. Plim- 
soll once told me that the ship-breaker's trade is virtually ex- 
tinct ; that old ships are not broken up. He has found that 
our coasting-trade is to a great extent carried on in rotten 
ships ; and I myself, while bathing, have seen one of these 
touch the sand, and fall to pieces in twenty minutes ; so that, 
by the time I had dressed after my bath, there w^as not a 
trace upon the sea of a brig of three hundred tons burden 
which had stranded in ten feet of water. This, no doubt, 
is the general destiny of old sailing-ships of the smaller class. 
They are broken up by storms, and sometimes the crew are 
saved, and sometimes all hands are lost. 

But it was not until I traveled in Asia that I became fully 
aware of what is done with rotten steamships; they are, in 
fact, the pilgrims' coffins. From Japan to the Red Sea, the 
superannuated and dangerous steam-vessels — useless in a su- 
pervised trade, in which it is not permitted, to drown pas- 
sengers and crew by glaring neglect in regard to the sea- 
worthiness of the ship — are engaged in what is known as the 
native carrying and coasting trade. While we were at Bu- 
shire, news arrived of the complete loss (with the exception 
of two survivors of the crew) of a steamship on the well- 
known rocks outside the port of Jiddah, the landing-place 
for Mecca, in the Red Sea. Six hundred pilgrims were 
drowned, and a fortnight afterward we met the survivors as 
fellow-passengers in our voyage to Bombay. They were na- 
tives of India, and from them we learned that the ship, a very 
old one, had been bought by a native merchant in Bombay 



412 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAYAX. 

from an English firm, and chartered for the conveyance of 
pilgrims from the Persian Gulf to Jiddah. The men said 
she went to pieces the moment she touched the rocks, like a 
rotten shell. Though they were close to shore, there was 
no time to get a boat out, nor to make any effort to save 
the crowd of passengers. The thing — homicide is perhaps 
the fittest name for it — occurs frequently; and the difference 
between the drowning of Europeans and the drowning of 
Asiatics is graduated in the English newspapers just as it 
is in the ship-owner's mind. The destruction of six hundred 
Arabs is recorded in London in a single line of small print. 
If the original owner of the vessel had sent it to sea with half 
the number of his countrymen on board, w'ith the same con- 
sequences, the largest prints, with an array of headings, would 
have signalized the natural result of his neglect. The parade 
of virtuous airs by ship-owners, who sell old vessels of this 
sort with the knowledge that they are to be engaged in the 
carrying-trade of Asia, while, for reasons which are obvious, 
they provide vessels for service at home W'hich comply with 
reasonable demands for the assurance of safety, remind me 
of the old lady, widow of a Southern planter and owner of 
many slaves, who, professing a languid horror of slavery, said 
to an Abolitionist visitor, " I can not bear it ; it goes against 
my conscience to keep slaves. J" mean to sell mine!'''' 

If an Arab of Bahrein or Muscat should produce a bag 
containing the smallest " seed pearls," and offer, in considera- 
tion of a hundred rupees, that a handful may be taken, my 
advice to any one receiving such a proposal w^ould be, "Don't." 
There are no men in the world, not even the jewelers upon 
the Ponte Vecchio at Florence, who know the value of pearls 
better than these Oriental merchants. But they are not 
much seen at Bushire, which is engaged with the import of 
British manufactures and the export of Persian produce ; the 
former consisting chiefly of cotton-piece goods, and the latter 



PEKSIAISr LAND REVENUE. 413 

of raw cotton, wool, corn, opium, almonds, and raisins. The 
world, I think, can not furnish another example of a trade 
carried on mider circumstances as deplorable as those which 
indisputably exist at Bush ire. There is no security for the 
safe- conduct of commerce. The political resident has lately 
reported that " the district of Bushire, in common with all 
Southern Persia, has been infested with bands of robbers, 
whom the local authorities have proved wholly unable to re- 
press." But this is only a part of the insecurity which ex- 
tends to all the relations of Government. Take another re- 
mark by Colonel Ross : " The Government collects the land 
revenue, paying a fixed sum to the Central Government," 
which means that no inhabitant of the region is secure in his 
gains against the rapacity of the local Government. That 
Government is free to extort all that it can get, upon condi- 
tion of making a certain annual payment at Teheran. The 
consequence is, that the entire province is kept in perpetual 
disorder by the demands of armed men, who plunder under 
the pretense of taxation, and Avho, by the peasantry, are 
scarcely preferred to robbers. Then with regard to customs. 
In describing a dinner party in Ispahan, I have mentioned 
the khan, to whom Colonel Ross alludes in his report to the 
Bombay Government, in which he states that " the Bushire 
customs were let to a person of Ispahan, in 1873, for 32,000 
tomans, or rs. 1,28,000." A less civil but more correct mode 
of expressing the circumstances would be to say that a man 
with the reputation of an ex -brigand has amassed a fort- 
une by purchasing from the Shah, for the above-mentioned 
sum, the power of extorting alt that he can in any manner 
get, by way of customs, in or about the port or district of 
Bushire. 

Imagine such a system of customs carried out by such " a 
person" under the following circumstances, for which the po- 
litical resident may be quoted as the highest authority: "The 



414 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

farmer of customs employs his own servants to manage, Gov- 
ernment officials not interfering. The transactions are kept 
secret, no returns being required by the Government." Col- 
onel Ross, in language which I have already quoted, adds, 
"The system is felt to be inconvenient to traders." He is 
too able a man not to have experienced some difficulty in re- 
straining his pen to such moderation in regard to a " system" 
which is indeed infamous — the repression of trade by the 
license of robbery. 

To all this must be added the uncertain burden of export 
duties, which, in the article of raw cotton, " are so large as to 
prevent trade," and the difficulties of a road, nowhere good, 
which culminate in such places as the Kotul Maloo and the 
Kotul Dochter. 

The trade, and I believe the population of Persia also, are 
declining. In transmitting to the Government of India the 
Trade Reports for the Persian Gulf and Muscat for the year 
18'74-"75, Colonel Ross states that "there has been a very 
marked falling-off in trade, as regards the Persian coast, dur- 
ing the year under report. At the port of Bushire the de- 
crease is shown both in imports and exports, and amounts to 
an aggregate of over eighteen lacs of rupees. The decrease 
would have been still greater but for the removal of the pro- 
hibition on the export of grain and increased exportation of 
opium." The following shows the total value of the exports 
and imports from and into the port of Bushire for the years 
1873 and 1874: 

18T3. 1874. 

Imports— Total value Rs. 39. 85. 820 Rs. 34. 72. 720 

" Specie 6.17.405 1.25.000 

46.02.925 35.97.700 

There is thus a decrease in the total value of imports, in- 
cluding specie, of more than ten lacs of rupees. The exports 
are : 



COMMERCE OF BUSHIEE. 415 

187?. 18T4. 

Exports— Total value Rs. 28.67.333 Us. 26.45.775 

" Specie 10.53.396 4.46.000 



39.20.729 30.91.775 

The decrease in one year of the exports is thus shown to be 
considerably more than eight lacs of rupees. In this one 
year the demand of Persia for cotton goods of English man- 
ufacture declined in value to the extent of three lacs of ru- 
pees, while the value of her export of raw cotton declined 
only to the extent of one lac. 

The two chief items in the port statistics of Bushire are 
the import of cotton goods and the export of opium. With 
regard to the former, although there has been the signal de- 
cline above referred to, it was the opinion of those most 
competent to judge that at the close of 1875 the market 
was overstocked, and that a further depression of trade was 
to be expected. With reference to opium, of which in 1874 
there was exported from Bushire a quantity valued at more 
than fourteen and a half lacs of rupees (about two lacs more 
than the value of the export in the preceding year), an inter- 
esting report by Mr. Lucas, one of Colonel Ross's assistants 
at Bushire, has been presented to the Government of India, 
from which it appears that opium is cultivated principally in 
Yezd and Ispahan, and partly in the districts of Khorassan, 
Kerman, Fars, and Shuster. The opium grown in Yezd is 
considered to be of superior quality to that produced in Is- 
pahan and elsewhere, owing to the climate and soil being 
better adapted for the production of the drug. But in the 
district of Yezd there can not be any considerable increase in 
the area devoted to the growth of poppies, owing to the utter 
insufficiency of the water supply. In the province of Ispa- 
han water is more easily attainable, and there an increase in 
the production of opium would seem possible. Mr. Lucas 
appears to have made the discovery that the terrible famine 



416 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

which afflicted Persia in 1870-'7l was due, in no small de- 
gree, to the withdrawal of land from the production of cere- 
als, owing to the temptation which the far greater j^rofits of 
opium held out to the cultivators. He says that, a few years 
ago, the profits of the opium-trade having attracted the at- 
tention of Persians, almost all available or suitable ground in 
Yezd, Ispahan, and elsewhere was utilized for the cultivation 
of opium, to the exclusion of all cereals and other produce. 
It was then supposed by some that the cultivation of opium 
would be indefinitely extended in Persia. But the attempt 
of the natives to enrich themselves by cultivation and growth 
of a profitable article of trade, and their neglect to provide 
the necessaries of life, combined with drought and other cir- 
cumstances, resulted in the famine. The costly experience 
thus gained has made the Persians more prudent; and al- 
though the cultivation has improved, and the yield from the 
same area has been greater, the export in 1874 was less by 
600 cases than in 1869-"70. 

The crop is harvested in May and June, manufactured and 
exported in the winter. Of the 2002 cases exported in 1874, 
nearly three-fourths were shipped for Hong-Kong, and the re- 
maining 583 cases for London. In order to avoid the duty 
levied at British Indian ports, the opium intended for China 
is carried from the Persian Gulf to Suez, where it is tranship- 
ped into vessels of the Peninsular and Oriental Comj^any. 
The Persian opium is, however, said to be not much liked in 
China, owing to its having a peculiar flavor, caused by the 
mixture of a large quantity of oil during the process of prep- 
aration, and also because it is not always free from adulter- 
ating matter. It is in greater favor with the wholesale drug- 
gists of London, inasmuch as it contains, on an average, a 
larger quantity of morphia than the opium produced in 
India. 

Bushire (which is sometimes spelled Abushehr and Bu- 



BRITISH EXPEDITION IN 1857. 417 

shahr) is a collection of mud hovels, no better and no worse 
than other towns in Persia. The population is a mixture of 
Persians, Arabs, Indians, and Armenians. The rupee is cur- 
rent coin at Bushire. I have no doubt that the British ex- 
pedition in 1857 did much to familiarize the people of the 
gulf with the coinage of India. But of that war in which 
Outran! and Havelock were engaged, no traces are visible 
at Bushire. That it was ended by a satisfactory submission 
on the part of Persia, and that those gallant leaders were 
thus released from one of the most ineffective wars our 
country has ever waged, in time to give their aid and that 
of their forces in suppressing the Sepoy mutiny, was most 
fortunate. 

If another difficulty should arise, Indian officers will know 
more about Persia than they did in 1857. They will under- 
stand that before any one of the great cities of Persia can be 
reached, there are for an army terrible obstacles to be sur- 
mounted in the mountainous paths, and in the extreme sever- 
ity of the winter. N^othing that our expedition accomplished 
w^as calculated to strike the Persians with terror. The peo- 
ple of Teheran, of Ispahan, and of Shiraz know little, and 
care little, for the towns of Mohammerah and Bushire, to 
which, together wdth the island of Karrack, our occupation 
was limited. The force tried the road to Shiraz, but found 
it inaccessible ; and, in the small advance that was made, the 
sufferings of the troops from cold was very severe. We may 
some day be forced to occupy the province of Pars ; but that 
is a policy which England does well, by all the means in her 
power, to avoid. It implies the abandonment of all that is 
most valuable in Persia to .Russia, whether Russia annexes 
ISTorth Persia or not. Even now the manufactures of Russia 
compete with us, and successfully, as far south as Shiraz. A 
prolonged hostile occupation of Bushire and the coast by the 
British would make Ispahan wholly Russian; and the rich 

18* 



418 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAIST. 

provinces upon the Caspian, including Tabriz, the most pop- 
ulous town in Persia, would be virtually, or in fact, part of 
the Russian Empire. 

The occupation of Persia is for the Tsar a very much more 
easy matter than for the Empress of India. The year 1857 
was well chosen for us to be at war with Persia, the year 
after the Treaty of Paris had been forced upon the young 
Tsar, who loves and longed for peace. Even then we might 
not have continued it with impunity ; and such an occasion 
is not likely to recur. The Shah's power exists by favor of 
England and Russia; but the authority of England in Persia 
is probably inferior to that of Russia, because Russia is ab- 
solute in the Caspian, and thus, with a secure base of opera- 
tions by land and water, can overrun Persia by passing her 
armies through the Caucasus, or down the Caspian, without 
fear of molestation. Though we met with no physical trace 
of the war of 1857, we heard an incident which is very char- 
acteristic of the Persian army. After the loss by the Per- 
sians of Mohammerah in that war, the officers of the Khelij 
regiment, which was thought to have behaved badly, were 
punished by having rings passed through their noses in the 
Shah's camp near Teheran ; to these rings cords were attach- 
ed, and the unhappy men, harnessed in this fashion, were then 
driven in disg-race throuo'h the lines. It was said that Prince 
Khunler, who was in command, especially deserved punish- 
ment ; but that as he was able to pay a douceur of fifteen 
thousand tomans, he received, instead of disgrace, a sword 
and dress of honor. 

The true interests of England in Persia are easily appre- 
ciated. It is our interest to promote reform in the Shah's 
Government, and to improve his army, in order to secure bet- 
ter government in Persia, which is impossible without a suf- 
ficient and well- trained military force. The Persian army 
would be a respectable force if it were well drilled, and led 



INTERESTS OF ENGLAND. 419 

by men of competent education, sufficiently well paid to be 
removed from the paltry temptations which are now enough 
to lead Persian officers from the line of duty. As a rule, they 
are scandalously ignorant, greedy of bribes, vicious, and cru- 
elly oppressive. Our interest in Persia is synonymous with 
that of the Persians. The present condition of Persia, fast 
becoming worse, invites foreign occupation. It is our interest 
that Persia should stand ; prospering, improving, and inde- 
pendent ; and to this end there are needed great intelligence 
and activity, together with the most complete knowledge of 
the policy of England, of India, and of Russia which it is pos- 
sible to obtain, in the person of the minister accredited by the 
English Government to the Shah. This indispensable pro- 
vision has not been duly regarded by the Foreign Office ; and 
until it has been made, the first and most necessary step to- 
ward the promotion of British interests in Persia will not 
have been accomplished. 

England has, however, planted in the Indo-European Tele- 
graph an " institution" in Persia, which, though it adds noth- 
ing to her strength in the country, and does not in any degree 
fortify her position as against Russia, is a monument of her 
power and an emblem of her civilization. The Persian sys- 
tem of government must, indeed, be execrable, when we find 
that it has not benefited by this great addition to the powder 
and resources of a wise administration. Nothing but the in- 
herent badness of that Government could have led to this fail- 
ure. The decline of Persia has not in any perceptible degree 
been arrested by this annihilation of space in the service of 
the Government, in a country Avhere space is a chief obstacle 
to good government. I have often thought, w^hen following 
these wires across salt deserts, where there was no sign of 
life, and in the mountains, where the iron cords were some- 
times strained almost to breaking by the weight of frozen 
snow, that under the rule of the Marquis of Salisbury the gov- 



420 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAlSr. 

ernment of an empire, compared with which that of Persia is 
insignificant, was passing there ; and thus I have been led to 
reflect w^hat a blessing it might prove to that most miserable 
land if conquest were to secure peace and order, and give to 
Persia, with those most precious gifts, the scientific discov- 
eries of Europe. 



PEOVIN^CE OF FARS. 421 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Province of Fars. — Memorandum by Colonel Ross. — Boundaries of 
Ears. — Government of Fars. — Six First-class Governments. — The Dis- 
tricts of Bushire. — Karagasli River. — Eeliats. — Nomad Tribes of Fars. — 
Numbers of the Tribes. — Eel-Khanee and Eel-Begee. — Chief Routes in 
Fars. — Taxation and Revenue. — A Revenue Survey. 

England is more interested in the province of Fars than 
in any other part of Persia; and in a memorandum by Col- 
onel Ross, lately communicated to the Government of Bom- 
bay, I have found so much valuable information upon the af- 
fairs of that province, which includes an area of not less than 
sixty thousand square miles, that I propose in this chapter to 
give the facts almost in the words of the political resident. 
Fars includes the whole of Southern Persia prope;, Lar being 
considered one of its subordinate governments. On the Per- 
sian Gulf, Fars includes the sea- board belonging to Persia, 
from 50° to 58° east longitude — from Bunder Dilam to the 
boundary beyond Cape Jashk. The northern limit of Fars, 
identical with the jurisdiction of the Shiraz Government, I 
have mentioned in an earlier chapter, in describing our brief 
stay at the caravanserai of Ahminabad, which is certainly the 
most northerly house in Fars, between the thirty-first and 
thirty-second parallels of north latitude. 

On the west, Fars is bounded by Khuzistan and Luristan ; 
on the north-east, the district of Aberkah lies between Fars 
and Yezd, belonging to neither at present, and from the north- 
east comes to a point at no great distance north of Bunder 
Abbas; the frontier of Fars is identical with that of the 
Persian province of Kirman. The districts of Bunder Abbas 



422 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

lie in the strip between the gulf and Kirman and Bashkard, 
and are included in Fars in a political rather than a geo- 
graphical sense. 

The marked contrast of climate which I have shown as ex- 
isting between that of the uplands from Ahminabad to Daliki, 
as compared with the region which we crossed in riding from 
Daliki to Bushire, has given rise to a division of Fars into 
the " Garmsir," or hot districts, and the " Sardsir," or cool 
districts ; the former being the lowlands, and the latter the 
highlands. 

Colonel Ross states that a great part of the province of 
Fars is still, as regards Europeans, terra incognita ; and he 
adds that even the courses of the most important streams are 
matter of conjecture. Very much has been added to our 
knowledge of "Eastern Persia" by the work of Major St. 
John, R.E., in connection with the Boundary Commission, 
recently published by the authority of the Indian Government. 

The Governor -general of Fars, who is also Governor of 
Shiraz, and whose seat of government is in that city, reigns 
in the name of the Shah over this extensive and important 
province. He is assisted by the Mushir, to whom I alluded 
as the builder of the excellent bridge over the Daliki Kiver, 
at the foot of the Kotul Maloo, and the improver of the Kotul 
Dochter. The Mushir (whose full title is " Mushir-el-Mulk ") 
is 'the person most feared in the province ; but this does not 
appear to exempt him from the ordinary vexations of Persia ; 
for a caravan conveying goods on his private account from 
Bushire was not long since pillaged near the Kotul Dochter. 

For administrative and fiscal purposes, there are in Fars 
six subordinate governments of the first class, u.nder subgov- 
ernors, who are responsible for the revenues and management 
of their districts. Of these we have met with one in the per- 
son of Mirza Reza Khan, Governor of Abadeh, Avhose letter 
to myself has been printed in an earlier chapter. Besides the 



SIX FIRST-CLASS GOVERNMENTS. 423 

divisions of the first class, there are considerable districts not 
administered by these six governments. The outlying dis- 
tricts are usually managed by a " head-man," directly respon- 
sible to the Government in Shiraz. 

The six subordinate divisions of Fars are: 1. Bebehan; 
2. Bushire; 3. Lar and Salia; 4. Bunder Abbas; 5. Darale; 
6. Abadeh and Iklid, each of which is subdivided. 

The district of Bebehan is ruled by the Ihtisham-el-Dowleh, 
Sultan Awiss Mirza, son of Ferhad Mirza, Motemid-el-Dow- 
leh. The revenues of this Government are, in part, obtained 
from chiefs of Eeliat tribes. The political resident states that 
Bebehan is little known to Europeans, and he thinks the 
routes to Shiraz and Kazeroon require further surveying. 

His Highness the Sipah Salar (commander-in-chief), who is 
really Sadr Azem (prime minister), gave us a vizierial letter 
to Houssein Kuli Khan, entitled Saad-ul-Mulk, the Governor 
of Bushire. But his excellency was out tax-gathering with a 
considerable force, and consequently we had not the honor of 
meeting with hira. Formerly Bushire and the adjacent dis- 
trict were administered by a governor directly responsible to 
the Imperial Government in Teheran. The present governor 
is the subordinate of the Governor of Shiraz. 

The Bushire districts are dependent almost entirely upon 
the rain-fall for the watering of their crops. The rivers of 
Khisht and Daliki, skirting the district of Dashtistan, unite 
and flow into the Rabillah Creek, some miles north of the 
town of Bushire. The lower part of Dashtee (a subdistrict 
of Bushire) is traversed by a river which flows into the creek 
called Khor Ziaret. It is supposed that this is the stream 
which, farther up the country, is known as the Karagash (the 
ancient Silakus), which Colonel Ross says is believed to rise 
near Shahpur, and to flow round to the eastward of Firoza- 
bad. He continues : " The Khor Ziaret can be entered by ves- 
sels of not exceeding six feet draught, and is navigable for 



424 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN. 

such craft for some miles. I recently proceeded up the creek 
for about twelve miles, and the information elicited from the 
inhabitants of the district tended to confirm the conjecture 
that here is the embouchure of the Karagash River. It would 
be an interesting and useful undertaking to march up this 
river as far as possible." 

We visited Lingah, in the Lar districts, on our way down 
the Persian Gulf. These districts, says Colonel Koss, " are 
little known to Europeans, and the geographical position of 
the town of Lar but vaguely known." We also landed in the 
districts of Bunder Abbas, to which we have made a reference 
in the notes of our passage from Bushire. In the Government 
of Darah, which we nowhere traversed, there are some inter- 
esting ruins, and Colonel Ross states that "iron mines exist 
in this part of Persia." In the sixth district — the Govern- 
ment of Abadeh and Iklid — we staid, in our ride between 
Ispahan and Shiraz, both at the chief town and at Zurmak, in 
the same district. 

A very interesting portion of Colonel Ross's memorandum 
is that which relates to "The Eeliat or Nomad Tribes of Pars," 
races to which I have already made more than one allusion. 
He says : 

" Some of the Eeliat tribes found in Bebehan have already 
been mentioned, and it was stated that they are Looree tribes. 
In other parts of Pars, the Eels are 'Toorks' and 'Arabs.' 
These pastoral people roam with their flocks from one pastur- 
age to another, according to the seasons. In the winter they 
frequent the comparatively low lands ; and when the increas- 
ing power of the sun commences to scorch the grass, they 
move off to the cooler uplands. The winter encampments 
are termed * kishlak,' and the cool summer quarters ' zelak.' 
Each tribe usually frequents the same tract year after year. 
In the early j)art of summer, the Eeliats are on the move 
with their flocks, and robberies are then frequent. It is nee- 



EELIATS. 425 

essarily difficult to form any estimate of the number of those 
tribes, but they form an important part of the population of 
Fars, and contribute some twelve to fifteen thousand pounds 
of revenue yearly. 

" The Eeliat population has greatly diminished of late years, 
as during the last famine many perished, with a large propor- 
tion of their cattle and flocks ; others have of late abandoned 
the nomadic life, and become members of the settled popula- 
tion; and this has been particularly tlie case with the once 
noted ' Feelee ' tribe. 

" Of all the Eeliats of Fars, the Kashkaee are most numer- 
ous ; and although the number has greatly diminished since 
the famine, they muster about eight thousand houses. This 
tribe have been great breeders of horses, but at present com- 
paratively few are reared among them. The families {teerah) 
of Kashkaee are Ader-Ban, Chardeh, Chireek, and Lashnee. 

"The Arab Eels have about three thousand houses (or 
rather tents), and roam from their kishlaks in Salia to the 
summer pastures, or zelak, in Bowanat. They claim descent 
from the Benu Sharban tribe of Arabia. 

" The Basseree tribe, numbering about one thousand houses, 
are found in Mervdasht, Sirhadd-i-charhardongah, and Ser- 
vistan. 

"The Baharloo tribe, of about one thousand tents, inhabit 
Darab; others are the-Arayaloo, the 'ISTapar' and 'Abii'lwar- 
dee,' the "^ Tewalallee ' and 'Amlah Shahee;' the 'Mammasen- 
nee,' of about' one thousand houses, inhabit Shoolistan. 

" The following tribes are nearly extinct as nomads, having 
mostly settled in towns : ' Feelee,' ' Bujat,' ' Berkushadee.' 

"The Eeliats are for the most part governed immediately 
by chiefs of their own, who are appointed by the Government 
of Persia, and held responsible for collection of revenue and 
the conduct of the tribes. 

" The Kashkaee tribes have at their head an Eel-Khanee 



426 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

aDcl Eel-Begee. The former is the higher title, and the 
nominal Eel-Khanee now is the Sooltam Mohammed Khan ; 
but as matters are, this personage's office is practically in 
abeyance, and is administered by a Persian officer, Nowzer 
Mirza. 

" The present Eel-Begee is Darah Khan, brother of Sohrah 
Khan, who was put to death by the Persian Government at 
Shiraz. The residence of the Eel-Khanee of Kashkaee has till 
lately been Firozabad, where the late Eel-Khanee, Mohammed 
Khoolee Khan, commenced to build a pretty villa, somewhat 
in European style." 

It wuU also be interesting to quote what the political resi- 
dent has to say in the current year as to the routes in the 
province of Ears : 

" The chief caravan road traversing Ears is that which 
leads from Bushire to Shiraz by Kazeroon, and from Shiraz 
northward toward Ispahan. 

"Another route from Bushire to Shiraz passes through 
Firozabad. This road is somewhat longer, but, from the 
gradients being greater, is considered more capable of being 
made practicable for wheeled conveyances or artillery. At 
present this road is not used as regards the sea-port traffic. 

^ Jj: ^ ^ >;« H« ^ 

"The roads to the summer haunts of the Eeliats in the 
north-west of Ears, where the great mountain, Koh-i-Dana, 
or Koh-i-Padana, rises to a height (according to Major St. 
John) of about seventeen or eighteen thousand feet, have, it 
is thought, never been explored by British travelers, though 
these districts are interesting enough to repay the toil of a 
journey through them. 

"More accurate topographical information regarding the 
various districts of Ears (as of other provinces), and the roads 
traversing them, would be of great advantage to the Persian 
Government. In fact, the acquirement of such knowledge 



A REVENUE SURVEY. 427 

would evidently be one of the first steps, and an indispensable 
condition, to any real reform of the fiscal system and admin- 
istration of the country generally. There are at the present 
extensive tracts and districts, the extent, capacity, and even 
position of which are but vaguely known at the seat of Gov- 
ernment. 

" Information regarding the resources of many districts is 
necessarily derived by the Government of the country from 
interested persons. 

" In some cases — it is said that in one case, out of ten thou- 
sand pounds actually realized from a district — about two 
thousand pounds goes to the Government, and the remainder 
into the private purse of the official who farms the place. 
The Persian Government very frequently puts the leases up 
for sale to the highest bidder; and this system, though a 
partial safeguard against such extreme cases, has many un- 
satisfactory results. Be it remarked that it matters nothing 
to the peasantry what the assessment may be, as in any case 
they are taxed to the utmost. But the question is one im- 
mediately affecting the resources of the Government, and 
indirectly the whole well-being of the State. 

"It would be difficult to suggest a measure calculated to 
have a more beneficial result to Persia than a well and hon- 
estly conducted revenue survey. There is reason to believe 
that the more enlightened of the Persian ministers are alive 
to these considerations, and disposed to adopt this measure ; 
but so many are interested in perpetuating existing igno- 
rance, that the scheme would have many powerful opposers. 
If adopted, however, not only would result a knowledge 
and increase of her resources to Persia, but justly and prop- 
erly fixed assessments would tend to check the system of dis- 
honesty and fraud, which, commencing at the sources, as at 
present, taints the whole stream of official life in Persia." 



428 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

British India Steam Navigation Company. — Crew of the Euphrates. — Pil- 
grims in Difficulty.— Streets of Bushire. — German Archaeological Expe- 
dition. — Sermons in Bricks. — Leaving Bushire. — Slavery in the Persian 
Gulf. — Pugitive - slave Circulars. — The Parsee Engineer's Evidence. — 
Ships searched for Slaves. — Pearl-fisheries of Bahrein. — Anglo-Turkisli 
Ideas. — Lingah in Laristan. — Bunder-Abbas. — Landing at Cape Jahsk. 
—"Pegs " and Pale Clerks.— A Master Mariner's Grievance.— The End 
of Persia. — Coast of Beloochistan. — Shooting Sleeping Turtles. — Harbor 
of Kurrachee. — Kurrachee Boat- wallahs. — The Orthodox Scinde Hat. — 
Paults of Indian Society. — Englisli Ladies in India. — Intercourse with 
Natives. — Unmannerly Englishmen. — Exceptional Behavior. 

A CHEERY, bright-eyed, broad-shouldered man, some, way 
on the younger side of thirty, who could laugh louder than 
any, and beat most of us at a game upon the Residency bill- 
iard-table, was Captain George Stevenson, of the British In- 
dia Company's steamship Euphrates., which on her arrival 
from Bussbrah had cast anchor about three miles from Bu- 
shire. A vessel drawing seventeen feet of w^ater can not 
with safety get much nearer. Captain Stevenson's gig had 
been pulled ashore by six Indian sailors — the crew of the 
JEuphrates did not include a single European— neatly dressed 
in blue, and with blue caps surrounded with a scarlet turban. 
Another steamer had been lying for two days before the Res- 
idency under rather peculiar circumstances. She was loaded 
with pilgrims, who liad received tickets for Bussorah; but 
the ship was chartered only to Bushire, and the captain pro- 
fessed to be ignorant that the pilgrims had shipped for the 
more distant port. The political resident was informed that 
the pilgrims would not allow the captain to come on shore in 



STREETS OF BUSHIRE. 429 

order to explain his difficulty; they held him, in terror for 
his life, a hostage and surety for the performance of the con- 
tract which had been made with them; and for my own part 
I was delighted to see Colonel Ross firmly on the side of the 
pilgrims. He sent off the assistant secretary to communicate 
to the captain his opinion, which was that he (the captain) 
would do Avell to fulfill the engagement declared upon the 
tickets, and carry the pilgrims on to Bussorah. It was, I 
think, owing to the praiseworthy firmness of the political 
resident that the British flag did not become, in the eyes of 
these two hundred Persians, a deception and a snare, and 
that they were not landed, many of them without food or 
money, upon a shore of which they knew nothing, and where 
they had no means of communication with their homes. 
Worse, indeed, might have happened ; and in a fight between 
the pilgrims and the British officers of the vessel, the justly 
exasperated Moslems would probably have succeeded in mak- 
ing the ship their own at a terrible cost of life. We were all 
very glad to see the vessel steaming quietly around toward 
Bussorah. 

After rain, the narrow streets of Bushire are in many places, 
sometimes from wall to wall, covered with green joools of 
stagnant filth, through Avhich one may pass dry-shod on 
bricks or blocks, which have long been used as stepping- 
stones across these shallow cess -pools. These filthy places 
might be filled up by a hundred men in one day's labor; but 
throughout Persia there is no regard Avhatever for sanitary 
considerations. He will not fail to prefer the work of nature 
to that of man, who, after gazing over the blue waters of the 
gulf, plunges into the labyrinth of mud -walls and noisome 
passages, through the squalid bazaar, among the mud hovels 
of Bushire to the other side of the narrow peninsula on which 
the town stands. But when the horrors of this middle pas- 
sage are overpassed, the view is even more beautiful than that 



430 THROUGH PERSIA BY CAR AVAST. 

from the front of the Residency, including the sweep of the 
sandy Mashillah, and the snowy highlands of Persia. 

About four miles from Bushire, a scientific expedition, 
directed by Dr. Andreas, an Armenian, and carried on at the 
cost of the Berlin Government, has been for some time en- 
gaged in excavating a mound which evidently inclosed the 
ruins of an ancient temple. That the mound contained mat- 
ter of interest appeared probable to some officers of the In- 
dian navy, who examined it at the time of the British Military 
Expedition in 1856-'57. Architecturally, Dr. And reas's dis- 
coveries do not appear to have been very significant. From 
the ruins he has unearthed, it seems that the building over 
which the mound had formed was used as a " fire-temple ;" 
but the material of the walls included bricks which can be 
made to speak — bricks having one of the sides covered with 
cuneiform inscriptions. These bricks evidently formed part 
of some older work, from which they had been carried, and 
then built into this structure near Bushire. I have seen sev- 
eral of these bricks ; they are rather longer than the common 
brick, and very hard; the cuneiform letters are raised on one 
side, and have endured twenty-five hundred years' wear and 
tear with surprising steadfastness. We had the pleasure of 
meeting Dr. Andreas and his colleague at the Residency be- 
fore we embarked for Bombay. But in quitting Bushire, we 
were not to leave Persia. We had nearly six hundred miles 
to travel down the gulf, before passing the boundary which 
separates Persia from Beloochistan at the little promontory 
of Gwadur. 

There is nothing in nature more delicious than the spring 
sunshine of southern latitudes ; than the exhilarating air of 
such a morning as that on which Captain Stevenson took us 
off to the Euphrates in his gig, pulled by six Suratees of his 
crew. The first of those ill-advised slave circulars which the 
Government issued — and withdrew, from the storm of anger 



SLAVEEY IN THE PERSIAN GULF. 431 

they evoked — had just reached ns, and formed the subject of 
much talk. It was Avell known that the supposed difficulties 
of naval commanders in the Persian Gulf had been the cause 
of this movement. It was believed in the gulf that Sir Lewis 
Pelly was, more than any one else, responsible as the adviser 
of the Government in this unfortunate business. He had been 
political resident at Bushire, and had found, as all resident 
officers in such places must discover, that the real difficulty in 
the matter rests with officers on shore rather than with naval 
commanders. At Bushire, a considerable portion of the pop- 
ulation is held in slavery; it is considered by those well ac- 
quainted with the facts that the proportion of slaves increases 
in descending the gulf. But I could find no one who wished 
for more definite instructions. The agent for the British In- 
dia Company's line of steamers trading from Baghdad and 
Bussorah, through the whole length and breadth of the gulf, 
to Kurrachee and Bombay, told me he had had in seven years 
but one case brought to his knowledge. One of his captains 
informed him, on this occasion, that he had two fugitive slaves 
on board his ship, and asked what was to be done with them. 
This occurred six years ago, and the agent wrote to the then 
political resident, referring the matter to him. He acted as 
political residents are generally disposed to act ; that is, with 
a leaning toward the slave-owner's claim for the restoration 
of his " proj^erty." He did not write a reply (British offi- 
cers do not like to commit themselves to slavery in black and 
white) ; he sent a verbal message to the agent to the effect 
that he might give up the slaves if he pleased ; but the agent 
found the captain not at all disposed to take this view of his 
duty. Sailors are generally opposed to the notion of surren- 
dering slaves to the ignominy of their former life, and to the 
cruelty which they well know the attempt to escape will bring 
upon them by way of punishment. He declared that he 
should take the fugitives to Bombay, and so he did. 



432 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

We had to I'ow three miles from the shore at Bushire to 
where the Euphrates lay at anchor, and to pass the resident's 
gun-boat, which is supposed to be specially concerned with 
the suppression of the slave-traffic, and the maintenance of 
general peace upon the waters of the gulf. The chief-engi- 
neer, a Parsee, joined us as a fellow-passenger. He had been 
four years on this particular service, and could speak English. 
He said that, during those years, ten or a dozen slaves had 
come on board the gun-boat. Sometimes they had swum off 
froni the shore at night ; some had " come on board with the 
coals ;" others had been found hiding in the ship. In no 
case, he said, was there, on the part of the captain, or officers, 
or crew, any desire to send them ashore. If a slave swum off 
at night, the men on Avatch were always ready to give the 
poor wretch a hand on to the deck ; and if a fugitive slave 
Avere discovered when the vessel was at sea, it was just the 
same — every body was ready to jDass him on to Bombay, or 
to some place where he would be free and safe. But it gen- 
erally happened, said the Parsee engineer, that the owner on 
shore discovered his loss, and at once suspected the British 
ship. If the owner came off by himself, and even if he were 
permitted to look through the vessel, the probability was, 
said the engineer, that he would not find his missing slave. 
The slave-owners, however, are generally Aviser than this, and 
succeed in clothing their claims Avith the . authority of the 
Queen of the United Kingdom and the Empress of India. 
Wherever it is possible, they resort to the political resident, 
acquaint him Avith their loss and their suspicions, and obtain 
from him a letter to the commander of the vessel, requesting 
that, if the fugitive slave be on board, he may be given up. 

In most cases, the political resident being the superior of- 
ficer, this of course amounts to an order ; and the engineer 
said this was the plan so generally adopted that it might be 
said that it Avas only when the slaves came from "foreign 



PEAEL-FISHEEIES OF BAHREIN. 433 

ground," which he explained to mean any part of the coast 
npon which there was neither resident, nor agent, nor consul, 
that they were taken on, or passed on, to Bombay. The fact 
appears to be, that, owing to the leaning of the resident Brit- 
ish officers to the ideas and interests of the slave -owners 
among whom they dwell, there is a very small chance of es- 
cape for a fugitive slave where the British crown is repre- 
sented, and a very good chance wherever the British flag is 
flying at sea, out of sight and out of reach of any British au- 
thority on shore. I met with a captain of one of the British 
Indian Company's vessels, who had twice allowed his ship to 
be searched by slave-owners upon a requisition from the polit- 
ical resident at Muscat. A first-class engineer in the same em- 
ploy, a Scotchman, who had served in the gulf for three years, 
told me that he had seen but one fugitive slave on board his 
ship. He found this man hidden in the screw -tunnel (the 
casinsr in which the rod connectino; the screw with the en- 
gines is placed), and allowed him to work his passage as a 
coal-trimmer to Bombay. 

Of the large number of slaves upon the shores of the gulf, 
both on the Persian and the Arabian side, it is certain that 
but very few attempt escape. All the severe and dangerous 
work of the pearl-fisheries is sustained by slaves, the result of 
these fisheries being, as I have said, estimated as worth four 
hundred thousand pounds a year. There is abundant evi- 
dence that the pearl-divers prefer to risk the perils of the wa- 
ter, which swarms with sharks, rather than be flogged on 
shore ; and I am surprised, hearing of the lashings with wire 
whips, and of other tortures to which they are subject, it so 
rarely happens that one or two swim off to any ship display- 
ing the British flag. 

That the difficulty, such as it is, culminates in the Persian 
Gulf, must be admitted. The numerous sovereign tribes 
which hold and rule the shores of the gulf are restrained from 

19 



434 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

hostilities and piracy by the influence of the resident officers 
of the British Indian Government, who believe that the main- 
tenance of their authority would be much more difficult if 
they appeared to acquiesce in that which is regarded as the 
confiscation, for the advantage of the British, of Arab or Per- 
sian " property." Most people find it easier to adopt a local 
opinion than to maintain the ideas of the higher society in 
which they have lived. I met lately with an account of 
" harem life in Turkey," written by an Englishwoman, who 
had lived as governess for six years in the house of a great 
pasha upon the Bosphorus. She appeared to see no degra- 
dation of her sex in the ceremonious " dinner-party," in which 
the pasha sat, surrounded with his three wives and their chil- 
dren, together with the children of his slave wives. These last 
performed the offices of the table ; and, though not thought 
worthy to sit with their own children, were privileged to v/ait 
upon them. As to the pasha's property in his slaves, she ap- 
peared to think it quite right that the eunuchs should look 
closely after them, because it must be remembered that, in any 
attempt to get away, they were not only leaving a kind master, 
but were " thieving themselves," a feat which seemed, in her 
eyes, to be an act of most atrocious wickedness. With regard 
to the fugitive-slave question, which is for the present rele- 
gated to its former condition by the substitution of a colorless 
and indefinite circular, the result of my inquiries in the Per- 
sian Gulf was, that I could find no one who desired more pre- 
cise instructions ; and it appeared, from the evidence I could 
obtain, that a fugitive slave is rarely met with, and that Avhen 
seen, his chances of escape are excellent, provided the British 
crown is not represented on the land from whence he has 
taken flight. 

After staying a few hours before Lingah, in the province 
of Laristan, we steamed on to Bunder-Abbas (landing-place 
of Shah Abbas), the principal place of entry — for it is not a 



BUNDER -ABBAS. — CAPE JAHSK. 435 

port — in the Persian province of Kirman. We had been two 
days at sea, and were glad to land upon the shelly beach at 
Bunder- Abbas. But the people, black and yellow, pressed 
upon us, in their eagerness to see an Englishwoman, and our 
progress in the squalid town and bazaar was slower than we 
desired. Many of the women bore upon their faces, by way 
of covering, a half-mask of stiffened cotton upon a bamboo 
frame, finished with a metal ornament upon the nose, and 
supported upon the face by a string passing over the head. 
The town looked like a sore upon the beauteous landscape. 
To have wandered on the shore strewed with pink shells, or 
inland among the palm-trees in sight of the mountains, would 
have been delightful. But the people of Bunder -Abbas 
would allow us neither pleasure. Where we walked they 
followed, laughing, screaming, "larking" — as English street- 
boys would say. If we stopped to pick up a shell, twenty 
hands were indiscriminately filled with shells, and the con- 
tents pressed upon us. 

This is the "Gumberoon" of "Lalla Rookh;" and over 
the waters of the gulf we could see the pale coasts of the 
Island of Ormus, the commencement, now neglected, of our 
Indian Empire. Probably the most ancient traces of Euro- 
pean occupation are to be found in this island, which was 
once the emporium of Portuguese, and subsequently of Brit- 
ish commerce. Sailing up the coasts of India, this was the 
first detached land — the first spot in which those who were 
secure of the sea, but not of the land, could establish them- 
selves with safety. Ormus is now the home of a mixed but 
very scanty population, engaged for the most part in fishery 
— catching sharks for the sake of trading in their fins and 
bones, and edible fish for sale along the coast. We had love- 
ly weather iu the Straits of Ormus, and anchored in smooth 
water under Cape Jahsk, where we soon obtained a number 
of beautiful shells. On the flat and feverish land of Jahsk 



436 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

there is a large station of the Indo-Persian Telegraph, inhab- 
ited by half a dozen young Englishmen, who are attracted by 
a salary which, to a youth, appears high, into a most unwhole- 
some place, with little chance of promotion. The pale-faced 
lads whom we saw there assured us that in summer Jahsk 
was the hottest place in the world ; and this is not far from 
its general reputation. We were touched by the sight of 
their faces ; not bronzed with sunny health, as are those of 
many Anglo-Indians, but paler than those of Lombard Street 
clerks, who so very rarely see the sun. Most of the clerks at 
Jahsk were resolved to " give it up " at the end of their three 
years' engagement; but I suspect that when that time comes, 
and they have to face the alternative of recommencing life in 
England or India, they will settle into that state of acquies- 
cence or chronic discontent, which, in those who survive, is 
so often the sequel to the first impressions of life in low lati- 
tudes. 

Near the sand and rocks upon which we landed there was 
a village of bamboo huts, inhabited by the servants of the 
Telegraph staff; and about half a mile distant were the large, 
low buildings of the office, which included a billiard -room 
and comfortable quarters for the clerks. It was at Jahsk 
that I first heard of "pegging" as a familiar habit. Every 
one of the pale clerks whom I met with was fall of kindness 
and hospitality, of which, however, his first notion seemed to 
be that I was in want of a ." peg," upon which the peg-holder 
of the Anglo-Indian, the brandy - bottle, was produced. To 
see the thermometer at ninety degrees in the shade, and a 
pale youth — toward whom, as a fellow-countryman, in that 
far - distant island, one feels an indescribable tenderness — ■ 
looking for support to a bottle of brandy, is a pitiful sight ; 
and it is one which, even in the flying glimpses we had of 
Anglo-Indian life, appeared far too common. 

A fresh wind was blowing, as we rounded Cape Jahsk, and 



A master-mariner's grievance. 437 

steamed out from the coast on to the broad bosom of the In- 
dian Ocean. After dark, Captain Stevenson set out a griev- 
ance which certainly deserves, and I understand has since re- 
ceived, the attention of Government. He is one of a highly 
respectable class of British subjects who have obtained cer- 
tificates as navigating officers from an Indian Board of Ex- 
aminers. Possessed of a certificate as master from the Board 
in Bombay, he, and those in a similar position, are empow- 
ered to take charge of any vessel trading from or into any 
Indian port. If the Directors of the British India Company 
ask him to take charge of a homeward-bound ship, he can do 
so, and navigate her into the port of London or Liverpool, 
or to any port in or belonging to the United Kingdom. But 
there the validity of this certificate ends ; and the command- 
er, who is thought by uninsured owners trustworthy and com- 
petent for the navigation of their vessel into a British port, 
can not bring the same vessel out of port, unless he has been ex- 
amined and has obtained a certificate in the United Kingdom. 
If he has this certificate his Indian diploma is worthless, be- 
cause the British certificate is valid everywhere and the In- 
dian certificate is not. Captain Stevenson had been placed 
in this position ; he had been offered the command of a large 
steamship chartered for London ; but he was obliged to de- 
cline the flattering proposal, because he would have to leave 
the port of London as a passenger only in the vessel which 
he was held competent to command on the homeward-bound 
voyage. 

There seems, in these circumstances, to be a grievance de- 
manding a remedy, which is surely simple and easy. Either 
the Indian boards are incompetent, or their certificates should 
be held valid throughout the dominions of the queen-empress. 
So far as I can learn from inquiry, I am led to believe that 
the Indian examiners at the chief ports of the three govern- 
ments are highly competent, and that nothing but advantage 



438 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAN. 

would result from giving force to their certificates in the 
United Kingdom. Navigation demands education as well as 
experience, and charts are brought to such perfection that 
perhaps the more important work of the master of a ship is 
performed in his cabin. ISTo well-trained captain finds diffi- 
culty along a surveyed and lighted coast which he sees for 
the first time; and if it be said that the man examined in 
London or Liverpool is likely to be better acquainted with the 
coasts of the British isles than one who seeks a certificate in 
Calcutta or Bombay, it is easy to reply that the candidate in 
Loudon has perhaps the less valuable knowledge, for he is 
' likely to find his danger upon the unlighted shores of Eastern 
Africa and Southern Asia, the rocks of which are probably 
known to the candidate in Bombay. I advised the preparation 
of a petition to Parliament, which I hope will now be needless. 
l^ext day we approached the coast of Beloochistan, and, 
rounding the highland of Cape Gwadur, anchored before the 
town, where the shore is stre.ved with the bones of sharks, 
which are cauglit and killed for the value of their fins. The 
eastern boundary of Persia, as settled by Sir Frederick Gold- 
smid, and agreed to by the Shah, touches the sea at this jDoint. 
The coast near the shore is generally flat and uncultivated — a 
sandy desert. We were there in the last days of February, 
and at that season there are, near the villages, a few patches 
of green, insignificant oases in the arid expanse. Beyond 
Gwadur we met with several large turtles asleep on the sur- 
face of the ocean ; but though rifles were plentiful, and bul- 
lets whizzed about, we were not successful in securing the 
material for soup. Two bullets flew off from a turtle's back 
as though his shell had been the plates of an iron-clad. Twen- 
ty-four hours later, the projecting point of highland whicli 
marks the westernmost boundary of British India came in 
sight, and then a lower headland, over which we could see 
the topmasts of vessels in Kurrachee harbor. 



HARBOR OF KURRACHEE. 439 

What a change is marked in passing from the wretched 
shores of Persia, with no harbor in north or south, to the 
moorings at Kiirrachee, surrounded by the most valuable 
results of the intelligent labor of Europe ! The beacon in 
the white, English-looking light-house ; the steam-dredges at 
work ; the huge iron vessels, long and narrow, built for the 
Suez Canal, and locally known as " ditchers," are pouring out 
cargoes of railway iron for the Indus Railway ; one steam- 
ship is coiling from the shore miles of telegraph-cable, for 
the repair of a disaster ; another is steaming behind us with 
the mails from England. Order, activity, utility, nowhere 
seen by us for months past, appear here to be natural and 
constant. We are hardly at anchor before the Euphrates is 
boarded by a dozen boat -wallahs, merchants or peddlers, 
loaded with bundles of shawls from Cashmere, inlaid boxes 
and needle-work of Scinde, caps and trinkets of Kurrachee. 
They are proof against taunts and trouble. They will expose 
a hundred articles on the deck without promise of sale, and 
submit to the exposure of their petty knaveries with unruf- 
fled manner. New arrivals probably give a higher price for 
these goods than that for which the same articles could be 
purchased in Regent Street. It is easy to find a good car- 
riao;e at the landino'-stao^e, which is three or four miles from 
the town and cantonment of Kurrachee. We drove, in the 
first place, to the Travelers' Bungalow, intending to stay two 
nights on shore, but were repelled by the dirt of the place, 
by the sight" of the nasty bedding, the grimy look of the 
heavy wooden furniture, and the general uncleanliness of the 
rooms. 

The roads about Kurrachee are of unsurpassable excel- 
lence, wide (perhaps too wide for a tropical country, where 
the shade of the road-side is desired by all) and smooth, as 
well made as any in or out of London. This appears remark- 
able within a day's journey from the miserable tracks of 



440 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAIST. 

Beloochistaii. One can never be more disposed to admit the 
material benefits which the English rnle has conferred upon 
India than in passing quickly, as we did, from the countries 
of the Persian Gulf. From the landing-place to the canton- 
ment of Kurrachee the ground is low and flat ; from tlie 
waters of the harbor the roof of the Frere Hall, four or five 
miles distant, can be seen high above the surrounding houses. 
When we visited the hall, there were sixteen natives doing 
the work of two Europeans in waxing and poUshing the floor 
preparatory to a ball, which w^as to take place in the evening. 
The narrow streets of the native town are full of interest. 
The costumes are mostly white : it is in their head-dress that 
the people of India are most fantastic, and perhaps they are 
now^here more so than in Scinde. The orthodox Scinde hat, 
which is like an Englishman's hat inverted — the wide, straight 
brim being at the top, the head fitting into the brimless cyl- 
inder — is one of the m.ost curious ; but scarlet is the prevail- 
ing color in turbans. 

The peculiar faults of Indian society had never occurred to 
me before I landed at Kurrachee : the weariness of a society 
in w^hich the aims and hopes of all have one goal; in which all 
bear the same stamp of oflicialism ; in which that very valua- 
ble element in society, the leisure class, which asks for noth- 
ing, and which has such a refining influence upon the views and 
sentiments of the employed classes, is conspicuously absent. 
I can fancy that in the Australian colonies there is already 
the nucleus of an established class, which is not engaged in 
money-making, nor in pushing its way to offices of the State, 
and which does not consider a return to England, loaded with 
accumulations of years of exile, to be the grandest hope of 
life. But it is quite certain that there is no such class in In- 
dia. There is an intelligent, active, moving class, all, it may 
be said, of one rank and sort, in their origin from the great 
middle class of English people, existing in an unnatural man- 



FAULTS OF INDIAN SOCIETY. 441 

ner, and dominated by two prepossessions — the hope of pro- 
motion on the line to which all belong, and the hope of return 
to the British islands, from which all have set out. 

Even in such a hasty passing glance as we had at Indian 
life, it is easy to see that these men are part of the very flow- 
er of our nation, some of the best men of their time. But no 
men can be impervious to the influences which surround their 
every-day existence for the best part of their lives, and in In- 
dian society there is not sufiicient diversity to render it agree- 
able. It is the same with the women as with the men ; but 
in their case, the faults of Indian society, due to its circum- 
stances, are more marked, and even more perceptible. Rob- 
bed by the climate of their children ; overcharged to the lips 
with the gabble of the station or cantonment; with a nice 
knowledge of the relative advantages of civil and military, 
covenanted and uncovenanted, service ; their feminine hopes 
and delights and triumphs are all npon the same line — suc- 
cess in the ball-room, promotion for their masculine friends, 
the opening of a "Europe box," and a house in Kensington 
as the full and final reward of life. 

Practically, there is no admixture of the ruling Avith the 
subject population. The Government of India is, in the main, 
just and liberal; occasionally, in its zeal, it attempts an im- 
possible combination of despotic and constitutional forms. 
The younger officers are sometimes guilty of gross rudeness 
to natives of the higher classes, and of harsh treatment to the 
lower-class natives in their service. This injurious and de- 
testable conduct is, as a rule, abandoned in the moment when 
an officer rises high enough, or becomes by accident so con- 
spicuous as to be subject to public opinion at home. The 
great value of the influence of English opinion upon the Gov- 
ernment of India is exhibited in the fact that the most re- 
sponsible officials are invariably the most benign, considerate, 
and just in their dealings with the natives of India. Of the 

19* 



442 TUKOUGn peksia by caravan. 

natives, many are nov/ put high in place and authority, many 
are reputed friends of Englishmen. Yet if, as I believe, the 
few cases which have come under my observation are typical, 
this "friendship" is not friendship; it is nothing more than 
intercourse, regulated and sweetened by polite forms, of which 
none are greater masters than the high-class natives of India. 
But if the intercourse of Indians with English must be that 
of a subject with a governing race, contumelious treatment 
of natives by Englishmen should be avoided, and, when pos- 
sible, should be punished. During our stay at Kurrachee, I 
heard the particulars of a case which exhibited a gross in- 
stance of this misconduct. The Prince of Wales was then in 
India, and a native prince had chartered two British steam- 
ships for the conveyance of himself and suite to Bombay. 
Into the smaller vessel, his highness Avas accompanied by his 
ministers and- jDersonal attendants; the larger was destined 
for his escort, amounting to about two hundred armed men. 
When these last went on board, the English captain demand- 
ed the surrender of their arms, and he did this, as I was in- 
formed, in no very gracious manner. The men had not ex- 
pected to be disarmed, and thought it implied degradation. 
To have explained fully and kindly to them that it was the 
necessary rule of the service, and applied to British as well as 
native troops, would have been easy and satisfactory. But 
the English captain not only offended the whole of the force 
by his manner in demanding their arms ; he inflicted an un- 
necessary w^ound upon the commanding officer, a first - class 
passenger, in asking also for his sword. Tliis was an outrage 
to which an English officer would not have been liable, and I 
was told by an eye-witness of the scene how pained he Avas to 
observe the emotion of the native officer in complying with 
this insulting demand. From all that one hears of the con- 
duct of Englishmen in India, I most readily and gladly admit 
that behavior of this sort is exceptional. 



BOilBAY. 443 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Bomba3\ — The Serapis in Harbor. — Suburbs of Bombay. — Parsee Dead. — 
Towers of Silence. — Hindoo Cremation -ground. — Cotton Manufacture in 
India. — Eeport of Indian Commission. — Neglect of Indian Government. 
— A Bombay Cotton Factory. — Hours of Factory Labor. — Seven Weeks' 
Work. — Natives of India. — Expenditure of Indian Government. — The 
Great Absentee Landlord. — Grievance of Cultivators. — Their Enemies, 
the Money-lenders. — English and Native Equity. — The Suez Canal. — 
Landing at Ismailia.— English at the Pyramids. — Alexandria.— " Cleo- 
patra's Needle." — Proposed Removal to England. — Condition of the Ob- 
elisk. — Recent Excavation. — Captain Methven's Plan.— Removal in an 
Iron Vessel.— Cost of Removal.— Egypt and the Khedive.— Preparing for 
Mr. Cave. — Sham Civilization. — The Horse- trampling Ceremony. — En- 
glish en voyage.— Egy^t and Persia.— Customs Oflficers at Alexandria.— 
Egypt and Turkey. 

The white Serapis and her iron-clad companions were ly- 
ing at rest in the glistening waters of Bombay harbor when 
we entered upon that magnificent anchorage. Most people 
know the unimpressive aspect of the town from the harbor, 
with the salient angle of the Apollo Bunder, or wharf, for a 
centre-piece. But those who have never been in Bombay, 
who know that really handsome city only by pictures and 
photographs, will hardly believe how bad are the hotels, or 
how beautiful, on a March morning at sunrise, are the sub- 
urbs of Bombay. As to vehicles, there is novelty in the har- 
nessed bullocks ambling through the streets; but the newest 
fashion of carriage, the tram-car, interested me more than all. 
A tram-car might be registered as one of the trade-mai'ks of 
democracy. The tram-way will do great things in breaking 
doAvn the barriers of caste among the natives, and of lord- 



444 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVA]^-. 

ly prejudice on tlie part of Englishmen. To see tlie open 
benches of the Bombay tram-cars loaded with white -robed 
Parsees, with Hindoos, with Mussulmans, with one or two 
lightly clad Europeans; to see this equal representation of 
castes and classes in a carriage to which all are free to mount, 
with no distinction whatever — is a lesson in the ways of civ- 
ilization. And there is no better plan of seeing the busy life 
and teeming population of the Hindoo quarter of Bombay 
than to ride through it upon the tram -way; but to see the 
suburbs of Bombay in their vernal beauty, drive in early 
morning to the Towers of Silence, where the dead of the 
Parsee community are exposed to the vultures. The road 
winds and undulates between gardens, in which plants such 
as in the temperate zone are regarded as the choicest and 
most splendid exotics, wave their grand foliage, and extend 
a most grateful shade, in the fullest luxuriance of tropical 
splendor. 

There are villas belonging to the wealthy Parsees of Bom- 
bay as elegant in architecture, and as rich in their adornment, 
as any in the outskirts of London or Liverpool. Riding in 
this direction has another advantage. By a slight diver- 
gence, one may obtain practical experience for the guidance 
of choice in the disjDOsition of the dead. With no great dis- 
tance between them, there are the Towers of Silence, the Hin- 
doo cremation-ground, and the European grave-yard. Li the 
Parsee towers there is no exposure or exhibition of the dead, 
except to the vultures, which pounce upon the body. I asked 
a Parsee whether he did not shudder at the thought of such 
treatment of his own body after death. " Better than worms," 
he replied, pointing to the grave-yard. 

But to unaccustomed eyes the sight of these winged de- 
stroyers, sitting expectant upon the topmost stone of the 
high towers, is most repulsive. When a corpse is brought 
in, the friends and mourners deliver the body to the guard- 



HINDOO CREMATION-GEOUND. 445 

ians of the tower, by whom it is placed on a grating near the 
top, but entirely concealed from view. The remains of these 
bodies lie npon the grating until the whitened bones fall to 
the foot of the tower. One may almost tell by the action of 
the vultures w^hen a body is being placed. There is a great 
flapping of wings, and a rising of the birds into view from 
their horrid feast, when the attendants of the tower mount 
to place the newly dead. While this is being done, the top of 
the tower is thickly surrounded with the foul birds, perched 
close together; and those who are a mile distant may know 
when the arrangement is ended, and the dead body left alone, 
by watching how the vultures flutter down and out of sight, 
to fasten on the corpse. 

Europeans are not admitted to the walled inclosure in 
which the Hindoos of Bombay burn their dead. This cre- 
mation-ground is about a hundred yards long and thirty 
wide, bounded on one side by a high road. On the other 
side the soil of the adjoining grave-yard rises so high that, 
standing there, one can observe the processes of cremation. 
By the side of the wall next the road there is a long shed, 
in which the family and friends of the deceased range them- 
selves. At one time I saw three bodies burning upon as 
many pyres. The attendants appeared to be very skillful in 
selecting and building up the fire-wood, with four strong tim- 
bers at the corners, of sufficient substance to hold the burn- 
ing wood of the pyre together until the body is consumed 
and these sustaining posts are charred, and fall upon it in 
ashes. On the ground in front of the mourners' shed they 
build the pyres; the body is laid in a shroud upon wood, and 
covered Avith sufficient to insure complete destruction. The 
fires blaze away in the fierce sunlight, the attendants occa- 
sionally stepping forward to pull the logs together with a 
long staff, which each one carries in his hands ; and in about 
two hours from the first cry of the mourners, Avhen the body 



446 THROUGH PERSIxV BY CAEAVAX. 

is first enveloiDed in flame, the pyre has crumbled into a deep 
bed of fiery ashes, which are scattered by the wind. I did 
not find that the operation w^as offensive; but, then, I was 
upon the w^iudward side. 

One of the most prominent and notable facts in Bombay 
is the increase and the character of the cotton manufacture. 
Familiar with that industry during my four years' residence 
in Lancashire as assistant commissioner, in the time of the 
Cotton Famine, I determined to look closely into the mode 
of conducting the manufacture without factory laws in Bom- 
bay ; and, with that view, obtained permission to inspect one 
of the largest and best of the factories. I saw quite enough 
in one hour to convict the Government of India of culpable 
delay in regard to a subject which seems to me to call for 
immediate action. 

A commission was appointed in 1875 to inquire into the 
application of the factory laws, as enforced in England, to 
India; and this commission rejDorted in July of that year, 
the majority being hostile to any legislation. Yet the facto- 
ry to which I am about to refer is, both in regard to the 
hours of infant labor and to construction, better than the 
average of those that must have come under the commission^ 
ers' notice. If gentlemen do not think that circumstances 
such as these betray neglect on the part of the Executive 
Government, it is not likely they w^ill be converted by the 
under- secretary's promise of "further inquiries in Bromah 
and Surat." Judging from the conduct of these commission- 
ers, and the tenor of this reply by Lord George Hamilton to 
a question put to him by Mr. Anderson in the House of Com- 
mons in February of the current year, the Indian Govern- 
ment appears to be playing into the hands of the j^arty inter- 
ested in opposing legislation, by adopting costly methods of 
delay and circumlocution. 

The establishment I visited liad about fortv thousand 



A BOMBAY COTTON FACTOEY. 447 

spindles, and, together with the loom-shed, employed about 
eight hundred people, including men, women, and children. 
The building was in no important respect dissimilar from 
the Lancashire factories, and the machinery, of Lancashire 
make, was of the best quality and construction. The hands 
were leaving the mill for their meagre midday rest of half an 
hour (the only rest they have in the whole of the working 
day), just as I was entering the counting-house. I had a 
very good opportunity for observing their physique. The 
path by which they passed me was so narrow that with my 
sun-umbrella I could have touched any one of them. Never 
have I seen such a wretched crowd of working-people — the 
men j^ale and haggard, the women and children drooping, and 
gray with cotton-dust. The men had been working continu- 
ously from a quarter-past 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., the time of my ar- 
rival; the women and children from V a.m. The hours of 
work are — for men, from a quarter-past 6 a.m. to a quarter 
past 6 p.m. ; for women and children, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
They Iiave only one half- hour for rest and food; and as I 
sat waiting for their return, the thirty minutes seemed very 
short. 

At the door by my side, when they re-entered the mill, 
stood the superintendent, with a stick in his hand, "just," as 
he said, " to give a tap to them as comes late, for you must 
be master of 'em." The time was half-past one ; and the lit- 
tle children, some of them not more than seven years old — 
exhausted with the previous six hours of continuous labor — 
were again at work in the terrible atmosphere of a Bombay 
factory for another three and a half hours. But this cruelty, 
involving, of course, the utter abandonment of education — a 
cruelty from which the British child is protected by law — is 
not the worst to which these Hindoo children are subjected. 
During a period of seven weeks, this factory had been closed 
only for three days. There is no observance of any regular 



448 THROUGH PEKSIA BY CARAVAN. 

day of rest; and for forty-six out of the forty-iiiDe days pre- 
ceding my visit, these children had toiled from 1 a.m. to 5 
P.M. at their unhealthy and exhausting labor. 

It is hardly necessary to state that on every floor of the 
mill the hands were exposed to many and great dangers from 
unprotected bands and wheels, and from insufficiently fenced 
shafting; these are the invariable features of factory labor 
without any official regulations. On the whole, I can not 
conceive a case more clear and simple; the Hindoo children 
are surely entitled to the same protection which the law has 
so long afforded to "young persons" in the United King- 
dom. 

With regard to the natives of India generally, I had of 
course, in a short stay at Kurrachee and Bombay, no oppor- 
tunity of looking widely or deeply into their condition. But 
it appears that there is a strong disposition in the minds of 
leading men in the Government of India toward fair treat- 
ment, and even liberality, in official dealings with natives. 
There are, however, two grievances, both wide -spread, and 
both of the highest importance, which are heard of in every 
part of India, and which appear to baffle the wisest and most 
conscientious lesrislators. 

"True," says the native subject of the Empress of India, 
"you have given us good government. You are mercilessly 
punctual and exacting in your demands, and the unfailing 
regularity and uniformity of these charges are, some say, al- 
most j^erhajDS as painful as would be the varying leniency 
and rapacity of native rulers. But, under your rule, that 
which we have, we possess in safety; w^here we lose, is in the 
fact that the expenditure of Government and of the govern- 
ing body is not made in India, but in England." The com- 
plaint is, indeed, very much the same as that which comes 
with great force from Ireland. The crown of Great Britain, 
like a great absentee landlord, collects a vast rent-roll in In- 



EXPENDITUEE OF ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. 449 

dia, which is expended in the savings of civil and military 
servants transmitted and retained in England — in their cloth- 
ing, and in the many articles of food and luxury which are 
purchased in England. Even the trappings of state pageant- 
ry bear the mark of London. "In all this," say the natives, 
" we lose greatly. If we had native rulers, they would not be 
so invariably just, nor would peace and order be so secure; 
they perhaps would lavish money in fighting, and squander 
other sums in semi -barbaric display. But all their outlay 
would be with us, and among ourselves." It can not be 
denied that there is very much which is, to say the least, 
plausible in this line of argument. 

For the other grievance the means of remedy or alleviation 
are less difficult. This relates to the land, and to the property 
of the cultivators. They borrow small sums at high rates of 
interest; they are ignorant; they are sometimes unfortunate; 
their simple agriculture is peculiarly at the mercy of the sea- 
sons. Principal and interest are added and re -added; the 
money-lenders are perhaps dishonest, and obtain acknowledg- 
ment of a document the real nature of the contents of which 
is unknown to the poor ignorant peasant. At last the debt, 
or alleged debt, with its quickly mounting interest, has become 
big enough to bear comparison with the value of the unhappy 
rayah's interest in the land, upon which the toil of his whole 
life has been bestowed. Then he is hurried by the money- 
lender before the English magistrate ; the debt, or alleged 
debt, is proved. By what j)rocess this proof is accomplished 
the peasant is often profoundly ignorant. No account is taken 
of the circumstances; the inexorable logic of written evidence 
— the verdict of the British rule — is all against him; judg- 
ment is given, and in the end his little property is sold to the 
liioney-lender, who has from first to last made a very success- 
ful transaction. Meanwhile the peasant, with a heart full of 
bitterness, has gone to ruin, bearing with him, in liis destitu- 



450 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 

tion, a miserable sense that he has been jostled out of his 
homestead with the sanction of an English judge. 

The Englishman urges that, under native rule, things would 
be much the same. Men must pay their debts. " No," says 
the native, "it would not be so under native rule. Native 
justice is wilder, less terribly regular, less legal, but j^robably 
more equitable. The rayah, under native rule, would have a 
better chance against the money-lender." And in this conclu- 
sion the native objector is, no doubt, to some extent justified. 
Here, then, is one of the most difficult of legislative problems 
for the consideration of Indian legislators. "Would it be ju- 
dicious — we can not deny that it is possible — to give tenure 
which should be free from responsibility for debt — to give 
the cultivator something which the money-lender could not 
claim ? Every man would like to be, if even to some extent 
only, invulnerable, so that in whichever direction " the slings 
and arrows of outrageous fortune " might fly, these could not 
wound him irreparably. Every one would like to have se- 
curity against being stripped naked by creditors, and turned, 
helpless and shivering, upon the desert of utter and extreme 
poverty. Would not the end be, that the borrowing would 
continue with heightened rates of interest, and the rayah, 
under this coveted protection, would fall into poverty more 
extended and miserable than even he has yet known ? 

That which struck me most, in passing through the Suez 
Canal, is the seeming insignificance of the Avork. In some 
places, the water-surface is not more than ninety feet wide ; 
and, standing upon the deck of a ship of three thousand tons 
burden, one must look almost perpendicularly over the vessel's 
side to see the water of the canal. We stuck fast for an hour 
in such a place, the head of our ship pressing upon one side, 
the stern upon the other, of the narrow channel. This, of 
course, involved a similar delay for the vessels which followed 
us. On gaining the inland waters of the wade expanse which 



cleopatea's needle. 451 

is still called " the Bitter Lakes," ships are allowed to travel 
at full speed ; and great efforts are made in order to obtain 
precedence in the succeeding narrows. 

We landed at Ismailia, and proceeded by railway to Cairo, 
a town which resembles Algiers in that it is French in one 
part, and thoroughly Mussulman in another. A more or less 
accurate notion of the bright bazaars of Cairo is a common 
possession ; and how the English go to the Pyramids, trotting 
through the dust upon sprightly donkeys, is well known. 

At Alexandria 1 fulfilled a promise in writing the follow- 
ing letter to Lord Henry Lennox, then First Commissioner 
of Works, concerning the removal of " Cleopatra's Needle," 
a work which he had been urged to undertake : 

" Plotel Abbat, Alexandria, April 1st, 1876. 

" Dear Lord Henry Lennox, — A long time has elapsed 
since our conversation in July last with reference to the re- 
moval of the obelisk commonly known as ' Cleopatra's Needle,' 
as proposed by General Sir James Alexander to the Metro- 
politan Board of Works. Detained in Persia by an attack 
of fever, and by unlooked-for difficulties in traveling, I have 
arrived in Egypt later by more than three months than I in- 
tended when I left England. 

" The taking-av/ay of the ancient monuments from a coun- 
try which they were originally designed to adorn is a policy 
against w^hich there is much to be said. It is almost pitiful 
to contemplate, upon the now carefully protected Acropolis of 
Athens, a Caryatid, rudely carved in wood, doing duty with 
her four lovely sisters of marble in bearing the entablature of 
the Erechtheum, while the original is in London, instructing 
the art-world, perhaps no better than would a plaster cast, in 
the beauty and grace of Greek sculpture. But these consider- 
ations do not apply, with any considerable force, to the pros- 
trate obelisk now lying upon the shore of the new port of Al- 



452 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAX. 

exandria. It forms no part of any structure ; it is not pro- 
tected, nor in any way cared for, by the Egyptians ; and with- 
in fifty yards of the ground in which the ' English ' column 
is lying, there is another, apparently of the same age and size, 
carved with hieroglyphics of similar character. It appears 
to me, therefore, that the English people could, if they please, 
appropriate this gift free from any fear or feeling that in 
doing so they would be ' spoiling the Egyptians.' 

" The desirability of removing the obelisk resolves itself 
into two questions — the cost and the value and interest of 
the monument as compared with the necessary expenditure. 
There can be no doubt as to the feasibility of removal. An 
opinion has certainly prevailed in England that the obelisk 
is so much defaced and broken as to have lost all interest. 
But I will venture to say that this opinion has not been form- 
ed by any one who has seen the whole of three sides which 
have been exposed by the excavations recently made by Sir 
James Alexander. The opinion was formed when but very 
little more than the upper side of the base was visible — a 
A'alueless j)art which appears never to have been sculptured, 
and to have been intended for burial in the foundation when 
the obelisk was in position. The column, as at present ex- 
posed, is at once seen to be a monument of great value and 
interest, one which, not only from its antiquity, but also from 
its quality as a monolith, would be specially notable in Lon- 
don, which, unlike most of the capital cities of Europe, pos- 
sesses no adornment of this character. The English j^eople 
can not see in their own country a carved stone even ap- 
proaching the dimensions of this colossal obelisk of red gran- 
ite. As to the condition of the monument, I have examined 
three of the four sides, and there is no part of any one of the 
hieroglyphics the carving of which is not distinctly trace- 
able. The edges of the carving are somewhat worn, and the 
angles of the obelisk rounded; but the interest of the monu- 



CONDITION" OF THE OBELISK. 453 

ment is in no place substantially impaired, nor is there dis- 
cernible any important fracture of the stone. The dimen- 
sions of the obelisk are : total length from extremity of base 
to apex, sixty-six feet ; seven feet square at base, and four 
and a half feet square at base of apex. The weight is prob- 
ably about two hundred and fifty tons. 

"In considering the method and cost of removal to En- 
gland,! have had the great advantage of the assistance, on the 
ground, of Captain Methven, the senior captain and commo- 
dore of the fleet of steamships belonging to the Peninsular 
and Oriental Company. The base of the obelisk is less than 
twenty yards from the waters of the Mediterranean; and 
within about a hundred yards there is a depth of two and a 
half fathoms of water. It has been sugjo-ested to float the 
obelisk by attaching to it a suflicient quantity of timber. But 
this is a very crude proposal, apart from the fact that no suf- 
ficient quantity of timber is obtainable in this almost treeless 
country. Undoubtedly it would be possible to remove and 
to ship the obelisk by constructing a railway on piles for such 
a distance as would admit of the approach of a vessel capable 
of carrying it securely to England. In this case, the obelisk 
would be suspended in slings from running-gear, and moved 
out to sea until it hung over its destined position in the ves- 
sel. But the shore is not the most suitable for this plan, 
which, moreover, would involve a very large expenditure. 

" The position of the obelisk is favorable for the adoption 
of a third method, which appears both to Captain Methven 
and to myself to be the most easy, safe, and practicable, and, 
at the same time, the least costly, of any that have been sug- 
gested. The ground in which the obelisk now lies seems suf- 
ficiently firm (with proper supports at the sides of the nec- 
essary 'excavation) to sustain girders from which the column 
could be slung without any change in its j^osition. To insure 
a proper distribution of the weight, it would be desirable that 



454 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

these girders should rest on iron plates, and that they should 
be of greater substance in the centre, where the weight of the 
obelisk would be borne. Captain Methven is confidently of 
opinion that the obelisk could be safely conveyed to England 
in an iron vessel not exceeding four hundred tons of build- 
ers' measurement, one hundred and twenty feet in length, and 
drawing, when loaded, not more than six feet of water. This 
decked iron vessel, or barge, would be constructed in England 
and sent in pieces to Alexandria, where it would be put to- 
gether in the space to be excavated beneath the suspended 
obelisk, the channel necessary to get to deep water being at 
the same time formed by a steam-dredge, or, if the shore be 
rocky, by blasting — a method which has been very success- 
fully adopted on a much larger scale than would be requisite 
here by ttie Peninsular and Oriental Company at Bombay. 
When the vessel was ready to receive the obelisk, the inter- 
vening: walls of earth between the base of the stone and the 
sea would be thrown down, and the incoming water would 
raise the vessel to its burden. The iron barge could then be 
towed into the harbor, when it would be decked, and have so 
much freeboard added as appeared desirable. Captain Meth- 
ven feels quite sure that by any competent steamship of her 
majesty's navy the vessel could be towed to England without 
danger of damage to the towing ship, or risk of losing the 
obelisk, regard being had to the season, and to the state of the 
barometer, on quitting this port and that of Gibraltar. Final- 
ly, I would say that Captain Methven seems to be of opinion 
that all this could be accomplished at a cost of about five 
thousand pounds. Yours, faithfully, Arthur Arnold. 

•'The Rt. Hon. Lord H. G. Lennox, M. P." 

In Egypt, we see Mohammedanism through a veneer of 
Parisian civilization. The Khedive, a Mussulman in gants de 
Paris^ is in fact the entrepreneur of the country, concerning 



EGYPT AND THE KHEDIVE. 455 

which his highness deals with the financiers of Europe. His 
personality as a ruler never appears to rise out of the busi- 
ness of entertaining, concessionizing, and loan-mongering, in 
which, to the outside world, his highness seems always to be 
engaged. Mr. Cave had just left Egypt when we arrived in 
the country ; and during our railway journey between the two 
capitals, Cairo and Alexandria, an incident occurred, which I 
give for what it is worth, but which seemed to me to be very 
truly illustrative of the Government of Egypt. Certainly it 
displayed what Egyptians think practicable and probable in 
the way of government by ministers of the Khedive. A well- 
known banker of Alexandria, a European, was traveling in 
the same carriage with us, and, on the way, we had some con- 
versation. At an unimportant station he was greeted by two 
men of the country, cultivators or corn-dealers of a superior 
class, Mohammedans, who at once engaged with him in ear- 
nest talk. On resuming the journey, I asked my fellow-trav- 
eler what had been the subject of discussion, so full, judging 
from the manner of those engaged, of interest and amuse- 
ment. 

" Oh !" he replied, " they were talking to me about Mr. 
Cave's report. They say that in anticipation of Mr. Cave's 
inquiry, the Khedive ordered the collection of a year and a 
half's taxes in one sum, and in advance, and that the amount 
was then set down as one year's payment, in order to deceive 
the British financier. And the worst of it is," he added, "the 
wretched fellahin expect that the tax - gatherers will come 
round all the same, and treat the payment, which was said to 
be for a year and a half, as an extraordinary affair — a sort of 
backshish for the Khedive." 

In passing through Egypt, I looked with all the care I could 
command to find traces of that intelligent government which 
has been so often attributed in England to the Khedive. I 
compared what I observed with all that I have seen in Tur- 



456 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

key and Persia ; and thongli in this comparison there was a 
marked difference, with much advantage on the side of Egypt, 
I saw everywhere, in native hideousness, in the rural districts 
and in the towns, beneath the sham civilization of modern 
Egypt, the horrid features of slavery and its twin, polygamy, 
with the universal degradation which follows in the train of 
these institutions of Mohammedanism. The people of Egypt 
are far less civilized, less inteUigent, incomparably more igno- 
rant and cruel, than the most wretched of the Christian sub- 
jects of the Porte ; and Egypt differs notably from European 
Turkey in the fact that the overwhelming majority of the 
people are Mussulmans. There are many in England who, 
in the devotion of their lives and language to horses, seem as 
much disposed to serve as to rule the four-footed animal; 
and that a horse can show itself superior to men is officially 
demonstrated at least once a year in Cairo, when the mounted 
Sheik-ul-Islam rides over the prostrate bodies of fanatics, or, 
as some say, of hirelings. The unwilling quadruped shoved 
forward by the hands of modern Egyptians, its brute nature 
revolting from a cruelty to men, while they, the bipeds, affect 
to regard the animal as the instrument of a miracle, is a spec- 
tacle the human degradation of which is perhaps deepened by 
the presence of cultivated Europeans as interested spectators. 
My impression is, that a good many English en voyage (and 
the French and Germans are very often no better) are attract- 
ed, rather than repelled, by disgusting exhibitions; and that if 
only a spurious halo of propriety were thrown over the scene 
by the name of religion, they would throng to observe circum- 
cision, or human sacrifice, or even the culinary operations of 
cannibals. Yet as to the last I am perhaps wrong, for in that 
there would be an element of personal danger. It is then they 
shrink — it is then they show a surprising keenness of appre- 
hension. " See how they run " when cholera has invaded their 
hotel, or the waves their steamboat. But they will stand, in 



EGYPT AND TUEKEY. 457 

seeming approval, while the people of the foreign country in 
which they are sojourners degrade and deface humanity ; they 
will smile at the performance of horrid cruelties of which the 
law would take cognizance at home ; they will flock to wit- 
ness the performance of exercises associated with gross, and 
to them patent, superstitions ; they will do all this, without a 
sign of disgust or disapproval. 

From Persia, Egypt differs most obviously. Egypt prop- 
er is fertile, flat, and well watered by the Nile and its tribu- 
taries, and, above ail, it is nearer to the civilization and to the 
highways of the commerce of Western Europe than are parts 
of that continent in the east of Russia. But in re2:ard to the 
" poverty of the poor," or to their oppression in the name of 
the State, I doubt if there is much advantage on the side of 
the Egyptian. I was very much reminded of Persian oflicials 
w^hen w^e were passing the ordeal — for it is an ordeal — of 
getting out of the port of Alexandria. While the Khedive's 
officer w^as examining our baggage, half a dozen porters and 
boatmen cried continually, " Give him something ;" " Give 
him a rupee ;" " Give him half a rupee ;" " Give him a cup of 
coffee ;" while the eyes of the customs officer twinkled with 
hope of the usual bribe. I have heard that a main obstacle 
to the success of Egyptian railways is the impossibility of 
preventing the officials from illicit trading in free passages, 
and I can well believe it. From the Khedive, Avho emulates 
the Padishah upon the Bosphorus, in multiplying his palaces 
at the cost of -his miserable subjects and of deluded bond- 
holders, to the murderous deeds of the semi-savages in his 
service upon the Nile, or in Abyssinia, or in Bulgaria, the 
Egyptian viceroyalty shows itself more prosperous, but not 
less marked with extravagance and excess, than the supreme 
and suzerain power in Constantinople. 

20 



458 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

"From the Levant." — Sunnis and Slii'alis. — Tinkisli Government and Turk- 
ish Debt.— Fuad and Midhat Pashas.— Not a "Sick Man."—" Best Po- 
lice of the Bosphorus." — Religious Sanction for Decrees. — The Council 
of State. — *' Qui est-ce qu'on trompe ?" — Murad and Hamid. — Error of the 
West. — Precepts of the Cheri. — Authority of the Sultan. — Non-Mussul- 
man Population. — Abd-ul-Hamid's Hatt. — A Foreign Garrison. — Hatt-y- 
houmayoun of 1856. — Failure of Promises. — Fetva of Sheik- ul-Islam. — 
Non-Mussulmans and the Army. — Firman of December, 1875. — Sir Hen- 
ry Elliot and the Porte. — Conscription in Turkey. 

A SERIES of letters,* published in 1868, contained our im- 
pressions of travel in Greece and in European Turkey. We 
then visited Thessaly, Roumelia, Constantinople and the Bos- 
phorus, Bulgaria, Roumania, Belgrade, and Croatia. I have 
no intention of retracing this ground on paper, and my pres- 
ent reference to the affairs of Turkey will only be such as is 
necessary to exhibit the connection which exists between the 
Government of the Sultan and the Mohammedan religion. 

I propose to devote the remaining space in this volume to 
a survey of the general condition of the Mohammedan peo- 
ples referred to in the preceding chapters, as affected by the 
doctrines of the founder of Islam set forth in the Koran. 
And in this survey the principal place must be given to the 
political circumstances of Turkey, which is the head-quarters 
of that larger division of Mohammedans known as Sunnis, as 
Persia is the head-quarters of the smaller, but still powerful, 
division known by tlie name of Shi'ahs. ! 

* From the " Levant." By Arthur Arnold. Chapman & Hall, 1868. 



FUAD AND MIDHAT PASHAS. 459 

The prestige of the Caliphate must have been greatly 
shaken by the catastrophe which ended in the suicide of 
Abd-ul-Aziz, and by the puppet reign of the unhappy Mu- 
rad. But these events have called attention to the real posi- 
tion of the Sultan, which, during twenty years of peace, had 
been somewhat overlooked, possibly because in those years 
the conquests of the Turks have been, not territorial, but 
financial. The Turkish Government has been the most suc- 
cessful spendthrift of our time. But the day of reckoning 
arrived, and the Turk could no longer provide the bait with 
which for twenty years he had been catching a rich provision 
from Europe. General Ignatieff thought the bubble would 
have burst at least eighteen months before the declaration of 
insolvency actually occurred. But when, at last, it broke, this 
generation saw that which was for most of them a strange 
sight. They were enlightened as to the basis of the Sultan's 
power ; they saw him regarded in that which is his true char- 
acter, an acclaimed chief rather than an hereditary sovereign; 
the head of Islam, with power bestowed and established un- 
der the sanctions of the Koran. 

If Fuad Pasha (whose disciple, Midhat, is striving for su- 
premacy) had an ideal system of government, it was that which 
a man far greater than he, but with a mind of similar tenden- 
cies, had expounded in " Les Idees ISTapoleonniennes." To re- 
construct the Caliphate, to reform it into a liberal despotism 
seated upon the heads of a dumb democracy — this was the 
thought of the great minister with whose death is supposed 
to have departed the glory of the reign of Abd-ul-Aziz. The 
revolution which cast that wretched Sultan from an eminence 
of power, awful in its solitude and responsibility to those 
who can conceive its full extent and authority, to a condition 
of restraint and imprisonment which rendered life unendur- 
able, was proclaimed as a reversion to the policy of Fuad 
Pasha. Midhat Pasha was hailed as the political heir of the 



460 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

ex-medical student of Paris. Mahmoud Pasha, with his Rus- 
sian leanings, was pushed away into outer darkness ; in Be- 
sika Bay, England had congregated the largest fleet of iron- 
clads that had ever been brought together under one flag; 
she was hailed as the friend, the inalienable ally, of Turkey, 
which the new ministers were prepared to show was not a 
" sick man," or, if sick, that, as Fuad himself said, " Turkey 
had no organic malady." 

Then, in those tumultuous days when the power of Abd-ul- 
Aziz was passing away, were perpetrated the atrocities, the 
tearful and bloody record of which Europe has written upon 
pages that for all time will stand as a dreadful memorial of 
Turkish misrule. These are, it is now understood, wild fruits 
which grow by the wayside of the Mohammedan system. 
N^ever since 1868, when he became acquainted with the coun- 
try, has the present writer consciously neglected an oppor- 
tunity of denouncing the Turkish rule, of showing that the 
Turkish Empire has organic disease, and that her incurable 
malady grows ever more deadly as she is forced, by new arte- 
rial connections, closer and more closely into the light of the 
political ideas and civilization of Western Europe. It is not 
diflicult to reduce the pleas for the maintenance of the Turk- 
ish Empire to that one plea of expediency, upon which, in- 
deed, the greatest master of Turkish policy, Fuad Pasha, was 
content to rest its claim when he said, " We are the best po- 
lice of the Bosphorus," nor to show that the validity of this 
plea is a reproachful testimony to the greed, and jealousy, 
and want of true civilization on the part of the great powers 
of Europe. 

The Turkish power is a Mohammedan theocracy. IsTo law 
is popularly accepted as valid unless it has religious sanction. 
The statute-book must run with the Koran. The neglect on 
the part of the Turkish power in regard to the fulfillment of 
the pledges inscribed in the hatt-y-houmayoun of 1856, of 



"empeeor of the ottomans." 461 

the due performance of which the other powers then felt 
themselves assured, does not vex the mind of a genuine Turk. 
Those promises were but wind — we will not, as Mr. Gladstone 
said, call them " air." The obligation to fulfill them was not 
to be found within the joages of the Koran. They were not, 
they have never been, indorsed with thQfetva of the Sheik-ul- 
Islam. They had not the sanction of the Church. The fetva 
of the Sheik-ul-Islam — which is naught if it does not imply 
the consent of the whole body of Mussulman clergy — was 
needed before any could engage in the dethronement of Abd- 
ul-Aziz. It was needed to put an end to the three months' 
existence of Murad with the names of sultan and of padi- 
shah. 

In the first chapter of this work, in regard to the Capitula- 
tion of IGYS, we have seen that the outward manifestation of 
this theocratic basis can be suppressed. ISTo grand vizier of- 
fering a treaty to England would now style his master "Em- 
peror and Conqueror of the Earth with the assistance of the 
Omnipotent and the especial grace of God, the Prince of Em- 
perors and the Dispenser of Crowns." Even in the Treaty 
of 1856 there is no trace of divine authority about the attri- 
butes of the Sultan. He is simply styled "Emperor of the 
Ottomans." This was the work of A'ali and Fuad, the great 
exemplars of the present time. It is not a final condemnatioil 
of the Turkish power to say that it is theocratic, for the pos- 
session of that quality and sanction has been the pretense of 
all powers, and is still the reputed basis of most of the powers 
of Europe. In his own dominions, the Tsar is just as much 
the " Shadow of God " as the Sultan. We must look to the 
ethics of the religion which is the ground upon which such 
authority is claimed. Mere forms of speech can be changed, 
and the language of Paris put into the mouth of the Padi- 
shah. When a great utterance was composed for Abd-ul- 
Aziz, the Napoleonic was the most approved form of compo- 



462 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 

sition. Had I been blind, I could have fancied myself at the 
Tuileries on the 10th of May, 1868, when, amidst hopes not 
less extravagant than those which encircled the first days 
of poor Murad's elevation, his predecessor, Abd-ul-Aziz an- 
nounced the establishment of the Council of State and the 
High Court of Justice. He, the successor of sultans whose 
pretensions to divine direction had not been less declared than 
those of the infallible Pope ; he who was the Pope of the Sunni 
Mohammedans — confessed that something was wrong, some- 
thing rotten in his State, " because," said the master of greedy 
pashas, " if the principles and laws already established had 
answered to the exigencies of our country and our people, we 
ought to have found ourselves to-day in the same rank as the 
most civilized and best-administered states of Europe." With 
this naive admission of failure, and " with a view to promote 
the rights of his subjects," Abd-ul-Aziz, the reformer, whose 
praise was then hymned in leading articles nowhere more 
loudly than in England, announced the establishment of the 
Council of State, "whose members are taken from all classes 
of our subjects without exception." "Another body," he con- 
tinued, " instituted under the name of the High Court of 
Justice, has been charged to assure justice to our subjects in 
that which concerns the security of their persons, their honor, 
and their property." 

ISTo Christian could speak more fairly. To those who 
know something of the Turkish system, all this was " words," 
and nothing more. " Qui est-ce qu'on trompe ?"* said Prince 
Gortschakoff to Lord Augustus Loftus concerning Turkish 
reports. But they did deceive England, for one reason- — be- 
cause we have always had a large party, composed of men of 
both sides in politics, who did not wish for an exposition of 
the true condition of Turkey, who were willing to be de- 

* Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Turkey, No. 58. 



MUEAD AND HAMID. 463 

ceived, and to deceive others. These were the bond-holders, 
who, whatever happened, feared to speak ill of Turkey, lest, 
in doing so, the value of their property should be depreciated. 
With regard to the Turkish Empire, the bond-holders have 
always been optimists, and they have had a very j^owerful 
influence upon public opinion. Men talked and wrote of 
Abd-ul-Aziz as they talked and wrote, for a few days, of Mu- 
rad, and assumed then, as they were ready to assume in the 
case of Murad, and as they are now ready — though they_ are, 
it must be admitted, less confident, in the case of Abd-ul- 
Hamid — to assume that a man whose youth has been passed 
under suppression and surveillance, to whom education has 
been denied as dangerous, upon whom comparative conti- 
nence and frugality have been enforced, would, when he ac- 
quired unlimited power and wealth — when he could indulge 
unchecked the favorite weaknesses of the Prophet — be a 
lover of liberty and law, a wise and liberal statesman, the 
husband of one wife, the master of no slaves, and in his pri- 
vate expenditure the delight of anxious bond-holders. It has 
been the inveterate error of the West to suj^pose that in Tur- 
key figs grow from thistles — that beautiful women are pro- 
duced by a life in rooms from which the glorious eye of the 
heavens, as well as the sight of man, is excluded ; bj walking 
out-of-doors in veils which prevent every breath of fresh air ; 
in shoes and upon stones which render exercise a torture, and 
graceful carriage an impossibility; by a life of inanity, ig- 
norance, and indulgence in unwholesome food. The error is 
not uncommon, nor its cause recondite. We have glanced 
at the self-delusion of the interested; but there are others 
who have made this error. Their mistake is akin to that of 
the dramatists of the Restoration, who. Lord Macaulay says, 
knew not that " drapery is more alluring than exposure." 
The mystery of the East has been their delusion; and this 
mystery, if it is faced closely and fairly, especially if it is 



464 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

regarded during moments when, in the political struggle, its 
veil is disarranged, is, as we shall see, a cover for evils which 
prefer darkness rather than light -in social life — a despotism, 
with slavery for a domestic institution, and upon the throne 
of European Turkey, a misrepresentation founded upon force, 
upheld by oppression of those who are its subjects, and by 
the jealousies of the powers which are entitled its protectors. 

The language of the present Sultan curiously resembles 
that, which I have quoted from the proclamation of Abd-ul- 
Aziz. Abd-ul-Hamid declared that* "the critical condition 
of the empire arises from a bad application of the laws, based 
upon the precepts of the Cheri (a codification of the laws of 
the Koran) ; and hence have resulted financial discredit, de- 
fective working of the tribunals, and the non-development of 
trade, manufactures, and agriculture. To remedy these evils, 
a special council will be charged to guarantee the exact ex- 
ecution of existing laws, or those measures which may be 
promulgated in accordance with the Cheri. The council 
will also superintend the budget. Public functions will be 
intrusted to capable persons, who will be held responsible, 
and will no longer be dismissed without cause." 

The same remedy, a " council," is proposed, but there is 
a more frank admission in the hatt of 1876 that the Govern- 
ment of Turkey is founded upon the precepts of the Koran. 
The Turkish Government has ceased to represent itself to 
foreign powers as theocratic, but, regarding its subjects, this 
is its truest title. When, in 1856, the Sultan appeared, as 
we have seen, to throw off, in deference to his Christian pro- 
tectors of the Latin and Anglican churches, the assumption 
of divine authority, it was in fact asserted, though in lan- 
guage purely mundane. He was styled "Emperor of the 
Ottomans," that is, of tlie Othmans — of the followers of the 



* Daily News report of imperial hatt, September, 1876. 



AUTHOEITY OF THE SULTAN. 4-65 

conqueror whose sword Abd-ul-Hamid has girded on in the 
Mosque of Ey-yub, the leader, in fact, of three millions out 
of twelve millions of peojDle in Europe, supreme ruler by no 
other right than that of possession, having no consent or true 
allegiance from the vast majority of the people of European 
Turkey ; being, in fact, successor of Mohammed in the Cali- 
phate, and of Othman in the Empire. Two facts I may men- 
tion which exhibit the true character of the Sultan's rule 
most clearly; the Mohammedan is to the Christian popula- 
tion in European Turkey as one to three; but the non-Mo- 
hammedan people are excluded from the army by which the 
Sultan's power is maintained. I have quoted the language 
in which the Council of State was announced. In its forma- 
tion, the Council was a scandal, and in existence it has been 
the means of further enriching the oppressors of the country. 
The non-Mussulman population being as three to one, A'ali 
Pasha, the idol of the Softas, composed a council, which in- 
deed exhibited this proportion, but with the figures reversed 
— three-fourths of its members being Mussulmans. 

When Murad was put on the throne, the same farce Avas 
played, but the language was less grandiloquent. The grand 
vizier addressed himself, via Murad (the hatt was addressed 
to '^my illustrious vizier"), in phrases adapted from the fail- 
ure of 1868.* "The domestic and foreign difficulties of the 
Government have brought about, in public opinion, a want 
of confidence, wliich, by disturbing the sense of security in 
every way, has entailed very material losses. It is necessary 
to put an end to this state of things, and to find a remedy for 
it; it is necessary to adopt a line of conduct which shall in- 
sure the welfare, as well as the material and moral prosper- 
ity, of all our subjects. The realization of these aspirations 
depends upon the establishment, upon a really sound basis, 

* Imperial hatt, dated Jane 1st, 1876. 
20* 



466 THROUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. 

of the principles of Government administration, and this con- 
summation is the ever-present object of my care.". .. ."All 
our subjects, without exception, shall enjoy full and complete 
liberty ;.... and in order to carry out this project, .... and 
with a view to this most essential result, it is both important 
and necessary that the Council of State .... should be reorgan- 
ized." Abd-ul-Hamid has said, or implied, at least as much; 
and we are thus brought to the position in which statesmen 
such as Fuad and Midhat Pashas find themselves when, after 
entering into promises in the French of Paris, they are sur- 
rounded with realities in the Arabic of Stamboul. They can 
make hatts, of course ; but if these surpass the sanctions of 
the Koran, they must rest in the jiigeon-holes of the Sublime 
Porte. 

The Government of Turkey is unquestionably Moham- 
medan, and the course of this survey leads us now to inquire 
what are the inalienable essentials of Mohammedanism? what 
is its capacity for change, for re-interpretation, in accordance 
with modern ideas? The position of the Turkish Govern- 
ment, thus representing only one-fourth of the people in the 
European empire, and claiming sovereignty over other mill- 
ions in Servia and Roumania, who have successfully repudi- 
ated any direct interference on the part of the Sultan with 
their internal affairs, is that of a foreign garrison, the soldiery 
having no connection with the mass of the people. This Gov- 
ernment and garrison cohere by force of religious ties. Both 
are Mohammedan. It was long ago admitted by powerful 
friends of Turkey — that is to say, by the governments of 
England, France, and Italy — that the only safe path for the 
empire in the future lay in the abandonment of this exclusive 
mode of government; and it was A'ali Pasha who, in the 
famous hatt-y-houmayoun of 1856, promised the overthrow 
of the Mohammedan system. To make this assurance more 
certain, he consented, on behalf of his master, that the con- 



HATT-Y-HOUMAYOUX OF 1856. 467 

trading powers of 1856 should be made parties to the execu- 
tion of this hatt, by a special reference to it in the ninth 
article of the treaty. Of the thirty-five articles of this hatt- 
y-houmayoun, the most interesting and, from my point of 
view, the most important articles have, as Mr. Butler John- 
stone, a friend to the Turkish power, writes, " remained dead 
letters." I will take his remarks upon this neglect, because 
there can be no doubt that he does not overstate the case. 
Referring to the promises of the hatt-y-houmayoun, Mr. But- 
ler Johnstone says : 

" («) There were to be mixed tribunals of justice, codifica- 
tion of the law, translations of the codes into the different 
languages of the empire, settled modes of procedure : this has 
been translated, as we have seen, into mock courts, unpaid 
judges, arbitrary procedure, and corrupt decisions, (b) Farm- 
ing the revenue was to be abolished, and a sounder fiscal sys- 
tem established : nothing of the kind has been done, (c) A 
solemn undertaking was entered into to grapple with the evil 
of corruption : at present the whole administration is corrupt. 
(d) Banks were to be established, to assist agriculture and 
come to the aid of commerce : nothing of the sort has been 
thought of. (e) Roads, canals, and railroads were to be 
pushed forward with vigor, so as to open up the resources of 
the country : the absence of roads and canals has prevented 
the relief of a famished population ; and as to railroads, the 
only important line finished was a cloak for a most notorious 
scandal. (/) Foreign capital was to be invited and encour- 
aged by every means, so as to develop the great resources of 
the country : such vexatious obstructions have been placed in 
the way of foreign capital that it has shunned the country ; 
and men of integrity, like Scott Russell and T. Brassey, have 
had' all their offers rejected. Unless the pashas catch a 
glimpse of backshish, foreign enterprise is an abomination 
in their eyes, {g) Christians Avere to be admitted into the 



468 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. 

army on the principles of general equality: nothing of the 
sort has taken place." 

These promises, made by Abd-ul-Medjid, are in all impor- 
tant points identical with those made by Abd-ul-Aziz; they 
were implied in the hatt of Murad, from which I have quoted, 
and they were understood to be adopted by Abd-ul-Hamid. 
Midhat Pasha is, no doubt, prepared, if he gets opportunity, 
to follow Fuad and A'ali in the political dishonesty of man- 
ufacturing imperial edicts, made for show and not for use, 
which can not have operation in the Turkish Empire, because 
no law is there held valid which has not the fetva of the 
Sheik-ul-Islam and the general assent of the clergy. I shall 
contend that these promises are made without regard to the 
basis of Turkish law — the Koran ; that they can not be exe- 
cuted without a complete surrender of Mohammedan princi- 
ples, involving, ultimately, an overthrow of the Mohammedan 
Empire. 

A Mohammedan government could not perform the prom- 
ises of the hatt of 1856 without ceasing to be Mohammedan ; 
because Mohammedanism, as a religious system, does not ad- 
mit the followers of other creeds to administrative co-opera- 
tion upon terms of equality. The Turkish Government prom- 
ised codification of law, and independent tribunals of Euro- 
pean pattern. How is it possible to put the laws of the Ko- 
ran into a code acceptable to Christians ? The Turkish Gov- 
ernment promised to admit the whole population to the mili- 
tary service on the principle of equality. But this is equiva- 
lent to making the army three-fourths non-Mussulman, a sit- 
uation in which Mohammedan supremacy in the Government 
could not endure for twenty -four hours. By a monstrous 
euphemism, the exclusion of the non-Mussulman population 
from the army is charged to them as " exemption," and they 
are made to pay about five shillings per man to establish 
their own degradation. The Christian peasants may, in some 



SIR HENEY ELLIOT AND THE POETE. 469 

parts, be too ignorant to comprehend that in this exclusion 
their oppression is established. Yet the true character of the 
tax is very evident from the fact that it has been imposed, 
not only irpon able-bodied men, but in respect of male infants 
from their birth, and old men long past military service.* 
This was one of the grievances of the Bulgarians, and by a 
firman of last December the Porte was pledged not to levy 
the tax upon infants and old men. But this promise, like all 
the promises of the Turkish Government, was worthless ; and 
Sir Henry Elliot reported to Lord Derby that " unless the 
Turkish Government were to abandon a large proportion of 
the revenue derived from the tax, it became necessary great- 
ly to raise the amount to be paid by each individual of an 
age to serve."f The Government, therefore, with no remon- 
strance from Sir Henry Elliot, declined to give the tax the 
appearance even of an exemption charge ; and the British 
embassador has reported that this demand, even of an install- 
ment of justice, has led to a discussion of the liability of 
Christians to military service; for which he has s:iid, "Some 
of them, and especially the Bulgarians, are showing them- 
selves disposed to ask. They are aware that the conscrip- 
tion would, in many respects, press more heavily upon them 
than the exemption tax; but they know, likewise, that no 
firmans or regulations will do so much to bring about a real 
equality between Mussulman and Christian."| That which, 
of course, these poor people have not hitherto realized is that 
a conscription,*fairly conducted among the population of Tur- 
key in Europe, could only end in the substitution of Chris- 
tian for Mohammedan supremacy in the empire. 

Abd-ul-Aziz was Sultan when dispatch No. 33 was w^rit- 
ten; he was in his grave when Sir Henry EUiot returned to 
the subject on the 8th of June. His excellency has always 

* Correspondence, No. 33. t Ibid. t Ibid. 



4V0 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

shown himself more soUcitoiis for the preservation of the 
Turkish Empire than for the just administration of the Sul- 
tan's power ; and, accordingly, though regarding the exclu- 
sion of the non-Mussulman people from the army as " the one 
great badge of distinction existing between the two races," 
admitting that " the Christians have become aware that until 
it is swept away their nominal equality with the Mussulmans 
can not be complete and real," he urges that " it is not nec- 
essary that the conscription should at once be put in force 
among the Christian population ; but the military schools 
should at once be opened to them, and they might be re- 
ceived either as volunteers or as substitutes for Mussulmans 
drawn as conscripts." Of course the Christians would resist 
a conscription which sought to make them tools of the mis- 
governing rule to which they are subject, and from which 
they have at all times suffered grievous wrongs. They are 
unequal, and unable to appreciate the ultimate results of such 
a measure in the subversion of the Mohammedan power. 



FERSIAX MOHAMMEDANISM. 471 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Islam in Persia. — Mohammedans of India. — AH of the Shi'ahs. — Abu-Bekr 
Successor of Mohammed. — Imams of the Shi'ahs. — Reza and Mehdee. — 
Religion in the East. — Mohammed as a Soldier. — War with Infidels. — 
Christianity of the Middle Ages. — Stretching the Koran. — Mohammed's 
Marriage Law. — Status of Mohammedan Women. — Women and Civiliza- 
tion. — Special Privilege of Mohammed. — Mormonism and Mohammedan- 
ism. — Consequences of Polygamy. — Protection of Polygamy. — Moham- 
med and Ayesha, — Scandal silenced by the Koran. — Mohammed's Do- 
mestic Difficulty. — Law for Men and Women. — Women in Mohammed's 
Heaven. — The Mohammedan Paradise. — Mohammed and the Jews. — 
Birth of Christ in the Koran. — Miracles of Christ. — English Leaning to 
Islam. — Mohammedanism and Christianity. — Christians of the East.— Mos- 
lem Intemperance. — Wine and the Koran. — Superiority of Christianity. 

Let us now glance at the peculiarities of Persian Moham- 
meclanisrn, which should have special interest for Englishmen, 
inasmuch as the dissent of the Persians shows the difference 
which exists in that large body of our Indian fellow-subjects, 
amounting to about 40,000,000, whose Mohammedanism is so 
often referred to as a matter which should rule our policy in 
Turkey, and as a danger to our empire in India. 

Islam in India is divided into Shi'ahs and Sunnis — a dis- 
tinction which separates the Mohammedans of Persia, who 
are Shi'ahs, from the Mohammedans of Turkey, who are Sun- 
nis. In the Christian world, the Greek and Latin churches ex- 
hibit a similar point of union, and a somewhat similar differ- 
ence. Both are united in Christ; yet in the world, and in the 
practice of the rehgion which they allege to be that of Christ, 
the Greek and the Roman churches live as theological enemies. 
As a rule, theological rancor increases between religious bod- 



472 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVxVN". 

ies ill proportion as their tenets approximate ; and, accord- 
ingly, in Constantinople we find that tlie bitterest sectarian 
enmities exist between the Armenian Catholics a.nd the 
Armenian Orthodox, their difference seeming to outside ob- 
servers to be merely that "'twixt tweedledum and tweedle- 
dee." In the Mohammedan Church, some animosity divides 
Shi'ahs and Sunnis, separating Persian and Turk — the Shi'ah 
of Northern, from the Sunni of Central and Southern, India. 
There are villages in Eastern Persia, and in Afghanistan, in- 
habited by a mixed population of Shi'ahs and Sunnis, and in 
some of these, in order to prevent disturbance, the Shi'ahs 
are confined to one side of a road, while the other side is 
exclusively devoted to Sunnis. 

When Mohammed fought the " battles of God," Ali, his 
brave son-in-law, husband of the Prophet's only surviving 
daughter, Fatima, was ever in the thickest of the fight. He 
was the Ajax of the heroes of Medina in the warfare against 
Mecca. If there was single combat to be done, Ali was the 
man who stepped forward to slay the champion of idolatrous 
Arabia ; it was the flashing vengeance of All's cimeter which 
brought back the tide of battle when it had ebbed away from 
the standard of the Prophet. But Ali was not the immediate 
successor of Mohammed in governing the Church Militant of 
Medina. Among the earliest of the followers of the Prophet, 
among the companions of his flight — that "Hegira" from 
which all Mohammedan people date their time, as ail Europe 
(outside Turkey) does from the birth of Christ — was one 
Abu- Bekr, upon whom it is said Mohammed called, in the 
agonies of death, to take his place in the Mosque of Medina. 

In a corner of the court- yard of this mosque stood the 
Prophet's home, including the apartments of his nine wives. 
It was in the room of his favorite wife, the beautiful and 
vivacious Ayesha, that he lay dying, when, according to Sun- 
ni belief, he summoned Abu-Bekr to the pulpit, and was held 



ABU-BEKE AND HIS SUCCESSOES. 473 

by this act to have indicated a preference as to his successor 
in the position of ruler, or caliph. After the Prophet's death, 
Abu-Bekr was acclaimed to this position — the spiritual and 
temporal headship of Islam. From that time to these days 
of the unhappy Abd-ul-Aziz, and Murad, and Hamid, the 
person acclaimed Caliph upon the death or deposition of his 
predecessor has been accepted by the Sunni Mohammedans as 
their chief. For ages this great title has remained with the 
descendants of Othman; and from him the Turks have ac- 
q^uired the name of Ottomans, or Osmanli. But this restric- 
tion to the line of Othman is an accident — a convenience; 
the line has' become sacred by unbroken descent of the Cal- 
iphates ; but that is all. Turks have become accustomed to 
hereditary descent of the superior power; but this form of 
succession is no fundamental principle of their system ; and 
though their ruler is head of the Church and State, he is, as 
we have seen, liable to deposition by the authority of the 
Church. It was the fetva of the Sheik-ul-Islam which con- 
firmed Houssein Avni and Midhat Pashas in their resolve to 
dethrone Abd-ul-Aziz. With the Sunni Mohammedans, the 
Sultan represents the power of the Prophet. 

With the Shi'ahs it is otherwise. To the Shi'ahs of Per- 
sia the Shah is nothing but a supreme magistrate, wdiose 
office it is to govern in accordance witli, and by the light of, 
the words of the Koran. With them. Imams, that is, the full 
inheritors of the office of Mohammed, are too sublime to walk 
the earth in these degenerate days. Abu-Bekr w\as no Caliph 
of theirs; they repudiate him, and with him tlic title by 
which nearly all of his successors have reigned. To Ali, and 
to the descendants of Ali, especially to his son, the son of 
Fatima — to Houssein, murdered at Kerbela — is their homage 
given. They acknowledge but twelve Imams; and it is long 
since they have seen the last of these holy impersonations. 
The first three Imams of the Shi'ahs were Ali and his two 



474 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

SODS, Hassan and Houssein. The eighth was the very holy 
Reza, Avhose shrine at Meshed is always crowded ; the twelfth 
and last, known by the name of Mehdee, was born a.d. 868, 
and, according to Shi'ah belief, was taken from the sight of 
men when he was only nine years old. Mehdee is the invisi- 
ble Imam of the Shi'ahs ; he is to return to earth some day, 
bearing with him the complete and perfect Koran, which, in 
the Shi'ah doctrine, was intrusted to the hands of Ali. For 
the Shi'ahs, the humanity of religion, the link between God 
and man is found in Ali, and, to a greater extent, in Hous- 
sein ; probably because the latter died a violent death. 

Returning now to the general subject, I would say that 
observation of Mussulman authority in Europe, Asia, and 
Africa has convinced me of the truth of the following opin- 
ion, penned by a distinguished upholder of Mohammedan rule 
in Turkey: "Religion in the East," he most truly says, "has 
not the restricted meaning which it has Avith us. Every 
thing with them [the Mohammedan people] is religious. All 
those questions which with us would be termed matters of 
politics are with the Mohammedans matters of religion. 
Mohammedanism is, in fact, a religion, a code, and a civil 
polity, or, rather, these three things are different aspects of 
the same idea." Therefore, in order to master the internal 
springs of the Turkish system, we must go to the Koran. 

Englishmen have been taken to the Koran by blind guides. 
Attempts like that of Mr. Bosworth Smith, in his " Mohammed 
and Mohammedanism," have been made to varnish the Koran 
with modern and unnatural coloring. Ill-judged and inaccu- 
rate as I shall show these to have been, such attempts are not, 
perhaps, surprising. It is the widely spreading revolt against 
certain dogmas attributed to Christianity which has led to 
this shallow delight in the Koran, of which the central doc- 
trine is that of the unity of God. The Mohammedan service 
of the Grand Mosque, still known to Europe by its Christian 



- MOHAMMED AS A SOLDIER. 475 

name, Santa Sophia, is, in its outward aspect, lofty and sub- 
lime ; it is ennobled by a comparison with the mean mum- 
meries of the altars of Seville, or with the farthing tapers and 
picture-kissings of Moscow. But that outward form of wor- 
ship is not Mohammedanism ; and these things — the wooden 
dolls of Spain, " Our Ladies " of Montserrat and Atocha, and 
of this place and that (dolls endowed with revenues, and with 
sacristans for keepers of their wardrobes) ; the adored pict- 
ures of Moscow, devoid of beauty and of the charm of higli 
and authentic antiquity — nor are these things Christianity. 

We shall, however, be able better to appreciate the error of 
these apologists of Mohammedanism when we have glanced 
at the leading doctrines of Mohammed. The Prophet of Is- 
lam was a soldier, the Napoleon of his age. If the great Cor- 
sican had lived twelve hundred years before his time, it is not 
improbable that "Les Idees ]N"apoleonniennes " would have 
taken the form of the Suras of the Koran. The sword of 
Mohammed was never long in its scabbard. He dictated a 
chapter of the Koran while his cheek streamed with blood 
from a wound sustained in the battle of Ohud. The Koran 
encourasjes Islam to war with the infidel in these words:* 

" Fight on, therefore, till there be no temptation to idola- 
try, and the religion be God's." 

" Fight for the religion of God against those who fight 
against you. Kill them wherever ye find them ; and turn 
them out of that whereof they have dispossessed you ; for 
temptation to idolatry is more grievous than slaughter." 

" War is enjoined you against the infidel ; but this is hate- 
ful unto you. Yet perchance ye hate a thing which is better 
for you ; and perchance ye love a thing which is worse for 
you ; but God knoweth, and ye know not." 

" When ye encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads, 

* Sale's "Al Koran." 



476 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

until ye have made a great slaughter among them And, 

as to those who fight in defense of God's true religion, God 
Avill not suffer their works to perish ; he will guide them, 
and dispose their heart aright ; and he w^ill lead them into 
Paradise, of which he hath told them. Oh ! true believers, 
if ye assist God by fighting for his religion, he will assist you 
against your enemies, and will set your feet fast ; but, as for 

the infidels, let them perish This shall come to pass ; 

for that God is the patron of the true believers ; and for that 
the infidels have no protector." 

Of course there is not in ordinary times an active desire 
to indulge in a crusade against overwhelming odds ; the su- 
preme teaching of utility is too strong for that. But every 
Moslem knows that the defeat of heresy by the sword is a 
cardinal point of Mohammed's teaching, and that Moham- 
med's Paradise is promised to those who fall in such conflict. 
It is no refutation of this to allege that the Christianity of 
the Middle Ages w^as no better ; and to quote the Papal leg- 
ate who put the edge of the Roman Catholic sword to all 
throats w4th the words "Kill all; God will know his own." 
Yet the error which is latent in this line of argument has to 
be exposed. It seems to some Englishmen to be a discovery, 
at once interesting and startUng, that all systems of religion — 
those established before Christ as w^ell as that of Moham- 
med — are inseparably related. They find not only ideas, but 
dogmas transmitted ; they learn to infer that Christianity is 
not the Alpha and Omega of rehgion. Standing in regard 
to the orthodox interpretation of their own sacred books 
somewhat in the attitude of " the poor cat i' the adage, let- 
ting I dare not wait upon I would," they are overjoyed with 
the delicious soupgon of irrefragable heterodoxy thus impart- 
ed, and in their rapture fail to grasp the utilitarian chain 
which w^ould lead them, link by link, to an invaluable test in 
this comparison. 



*' STKETCHING " THE KOKAN. 477 

Tliey are not too careful how they deal with their own Bi- 
ble when " the insuperable dogmatic character " of the Ko- 
ran is in question. The member for Canterbury, who, I pre- 
sume, is with Lord Beaconsfield upon the side of the angels in 
the matrter of evolution, has argued that " the inspired char- 
acter of the Christian sacred books has not prevented prog- 
ress in religion in Europe, and for this reason, viz., that the 
inspired writings are sufficiently elastic in expression to ad- 
mit of progressive developments and interpretations ; other- 
wise religious thought, and with it civilization, would have 
been strano-led in the Christian world. And so it is with the 
Koran." 

These desperate friends of Mohammedan power are blind 
to facts as well as tendencies. Stretch the doctrines of the 
Koran to the length they desire, and the religion of Moham- 
med is gone ; strain them politically, so as to establish a true 
equality of Mohammedan and non-Mohammedan population, 
and the empire of Othman must pass away. Of course, doc- 
trines of the Koran may be amended by a revised interpreta- 
tion — that is, some of them. Women need not be condemned 
to suffer ill health from want of fresh air because the Koran 
tells them " to discover not their ornaments," to conceal their 
charms from all but certain persons. Upon this matter, di- 
rectly affecting the whole population, there are several inter- 
pretations now in sight among Mohammedans. The Per- 
sians include the eyes, the Turks do not ; and the opinion of 
high society in Constantinople has ceased, in fact, to include 
any part of the face, the only difference from European cus- 
tom being that, whereas the veils of English ladies fall from 
the head-dress, and are not always worn, those of the belles 
of Stamboul, not less diaphanous, but indispensable, mount 
from the chin to the nose. 

The Koran says, " Take in marriage such women as please 
you — two, three, or four, and not more;" but the faithful 



478 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAR A VAX. 

may enter into temporary connubial arrangements witli any 
number of " those women " whom they have " acquired " as 
" slaves." It will be said that there is nothing in these words 
to prevent the spread of monogamy, which is already the es- 
tablished rule of life with many Turks. Nothing whatever; 
indeed, we find these words in the Koran : " If ye fear ye 
can not act equitably toward so many, marry one only, or the 
slaves which ye shall have acquired." Moreover, it is obvi- 
ous that time tends to encourage the decline of polygamy. . 
The men of Constantinople who have but one wife have not 
lost confidence in the teaching of the Koran. They are com- 
ing to European ways, because, by increasing the individuali- 
ty of women, civilization has surrounded polygamy with em- 
barrassments. Some of them say they prefer to have but 
one wife because of the better enjoyment of her society, and 
the avoidance of jealousies and difficulty in regard to chil- 
dren. Others admit that expense sways their mind. The la- 
dies of Stamboul have acquired by association tastes which 
are very costly: a liking for jeweled watches, for Paris fash- 
ions in dress, in carriages, in furniture. Each one of Moham- 
med's nine wives had but a mud-built shed, all grouped in 
one corner of the ground surrounding the mosque at Medina. 
Ayesha alone would have ruined him if, with his means, the 
Prophet had humored her extravagances in modern Stamboul. 
Wherever Mohammedanism touches a higher civilization, 
the woman at once gains individuality, the veil becomes more 
transparent, and polygamy is less common. Why ? Because 
the progress of civilization is synonymous with the advance 
of individuality, and individuaUty is both troublesome and 
costly in the persons of dependents. " There is nothing in 
the religion of Islam," said a writer of the highest authority 
in a recent article upon "The Situation Viewed from Con- 
stantinople," " which can fairly be called adverse to civiliza- 
tion." I shall abundantly expose the falsity of this proposi- 



SPECIAL PEIVILEGE OF MOHAMMED. 479 

tioii ; but if the writer had said, " There is nothing in the 
religion of Islam which can withstand civilization," I should 
have agreed with him. The thinly veiled beauty of Constan- 
tinople has requirements unthought of by the secluded Per- 
sian lady, and thus the Turk is guided to the equitable laAV 
of monogamy. I will even admit that, in adopting this rule, 
the Moslem does not repudiate the sanctions of the Koran, 
and that, after a life spent in fidelity to one Avife, he does not 
regard with scorn or contempt the " specially revealed " priv- 
ileges of Mohammed in regard to polygamy. Yet it is hard 
to feel aught but disgust for Christian writers who degrade 
themselves by penning apologies for the rampant lust of Mo- 
hammed. He slaughtered a Jewish tribe, and selected a wife 
from those he had made widows. He coveted Zeinab, the 
wife of Zeid, his adopted son, and could not rest until he 
had compelled a divorce between Zeinab and Zeid, so that 
he might take Zeinab for himself. It was this last outrage 
which led Mohammed to perpetrate in the Koran his great- 
est offense. The lowest depths of historical imposture seem 
to contain nothing so foul as the deliberate admixture of spe- 
cial license for himself, in regard to polygamy, with sacred 
principles of justice in the Koran. Surely I have made a 
larger concession than truth will admit, in saying that the 
practice of monogamy, which the apologists of the Turk 
rightly declare to be extending in Turkey, is consistent with 
reverence for the man who, because he wished to take for 
himself the wife of another, and could not gain possession of 
her as a slave, put these words into the mouth of the Moham- 
medan God : 

" O Prophet, we have allowed thee thy wives, unto whom 
thou hast given their dower, and also the slaves which thy 
right hand possesseth of the booty which God hath granted 
thee, and the daughters of thy uncles, and the daughters of 
thy aunts, both on thy father's side and on thy mother's side. 



480 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVA:N^. 

who have fled with thee from Mecca, and any other believ- 
ing woman, if she give herself unto the Prophet, in case the 
Prophet desireth to take her to wife. This is a peculiar 
privilege granted unto thee above the rest of true believ- 
ers Thou mayest postpone the turn of such of thy 

wives as thou shalt please. God knoweth whatever is in 
your hearts, and God is knowing and gracious."* 

Joe Smith and Brigham Young have not been without suc- 
cess in their humbler way, and in more rational times ; but it 
may fairly be doubted if they would have had as large a fol- 
lowing had their sacred books contained special privileges of 
this sort for the leaders of Mormonism. 

Polygamy, which implies the unnatural appropriation of 
women by the rich of the male sex, is responsible for much 
of the vice of Eastern nations. The worst side, the lustful in- 
spiration of the Koran, is nowhere more strikingly exhibited 
than in the law^s relating to adultery and fornication. Against 
the traffic in the latter vice the Koran is most severe ; and in 
throwing down the house which I observed in ruins in Ka- 
shan, the governor had only fulfilled the duties of a true Mus- 
sulman. The Koran says, " If any of your ^vomen are guilty, 
produce four witnesses from among you against them; and 
if they bear witness against them, imprison them in separate 
apartments till death release them, or God affordeth them a 
way to escape." In the days of Mohammed, women were 
imprisoned under this law till they died, and their death was 
often brought about.by starvation, or some other cruel means. 
Later, this practice was mitigated by the Sonna ; and while 
their male partners in crime were of course free, unmarried 
women guilty of unchastity were scourged with a hundred 
stripes, and married women were stoned. Women slaves, 
being held less accountable for their vices, received half the 

* Sale's "Al Koran." 



PEOTECTIOX OF POLYGAMY. 481 

penalty to which free women were subject; and as stonhig 
could not be done by halves, flogging was their punishment. 

The polygamous households of Mohammed and his follow- 
ers were protected by these laws ; but for the crime of men 
against women the Koran has no punishment. " Compel not," 
says the Prophet, in the 24th Sura, "your maid-servants to 
prostitute themselves, if they be willing to live chastely, that 
ye may seek the casual advantage of this present life; but 
whoever will compel them thereto, verily God will be gracious 
and merciful unto such women after their compulsion." This 
particular passage in a book held sacred by millions of man- 
kind w\as the " revealed " reply of Mohammed to the com- 
plaint of a woman, a slave in the household of Abd'allah Ebn 
Obba, who had six female slaves, on each of whom he laid a 
tax, and obliged them to pay it by the proceeds of an un- 
chaste life. This suggestive rule of the Koran is still in oper- 
ation, and we have had an opportunity of learning, upon offi- 
cial authority, how it works in Turkey. "A custom prevails 
here," Mr. Consul Abbott reported, " to exempt from milita- 
ry conscription a Mussulman young man who elopes with a 
Christian girl, and whom he converts to his faith. This being 
a meritorious act for his religion, it entitles him, as a reward, 
to be freed from military service."* Mr. Abbott's expression 
" elopes w^ith " is an obvious euphemism for " abducts." 

A difficulty which occurred in the household of Mohammed, 
and which nearly caused the cruel death of Ayesha, the most 
beautiful and engaging of his wives, led to the issue of a Sura 
specially " sent down from heaven," which did inflict some 
punishment upon men in their relations with women, the in- 
spiration being obviously the jealousy of Mohammed. In the 
sixth year of the Hegira, when Mohammed was beginning his 
career of conquest, he undertook a military expedition against 

* " Consular Reports on the Condition of Christians in Turkey." 

21 



482 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

the tribe of Mostalek, and on the march he was accompanied 
by his young wife Ayesha, who rode upon a camel, screened 
from all eyes in a curtained structure fastened upon the back 
of the animal. One night, when the forces of the Prophet 
w^ere returning to Medina, Ayesha ordered the driver to stop 
her camel. The animal was stopped, and made to kneel. In 
the darkness Ayesha retired a little way into the desert. In 
returning, according to her own account, she discovered that 
she had lost a necklace of onyxes, a gift from her husband, 
the Prophet. She therefore retraced her steps, looking care- 
fully for the lost treasure. If a well-trained camel is placed 
upon its knees, it is not difficult to step from the harness into 
a carriage, or howdah, upon the animal's back. The driver 
supposed, after some mimites had elapsed, that Ayesha was 
again in her place, and, taking this for certain, led the camel 
onward. 

When Ayesha regained the track, she found the camel 
gone, and sat herself down by the way-side, thinking, so she 
said, that search would soon be made for her. She fell asleep, 
and in the early dawn of morning was awaked by one Safwan, 
who trembled as he recognized the favorite wife of the Proph- 
et. He awoke her, Ayesha said, by softly murmuring twice 
in her uncovered ear the words, " We are God's, and unto 
him we must return." Ayesha's first instinct was to shroud 
herself from this man with her veil. She then allowed Saf- 
wan to set her upon his camel, and to lead her toward the 
army, in the rear of which Safwan had been one of the most 
distant stragglers. They overtook the forces of Mohammed 
when the soldiers were resting about the hour of noon. Im- 
mediately there was a great cry of scandal in the household 
of the Prophet, and Abd'allah Ebn Obba spread through 
the camp a charge of planned adultery with Safwan against 
Ayesha. 

Mohammed was a terribly jealous husband; moreover, he 



Mohammed's domestic difficulty. 483 

was thirty years older than this vivacious girl. His jealousy 
increased as he advanced in years ; and, on one occasion, 
when the hand of a companion was thought to have touched 
that of Ayesha, the Prophet felt so much uneasiness that he 
was not comforted until he had settled the present and future 
of his wives by a revelation from heaven. And, accordingly, 
in the 33d Sura we read : " O true believers, enter not the 
houses of the Prophet, unless it be permitted you to eat meat 
with him, without waiting his convenient time: but when ye 
are invited, then enter And when ye ask of the Proph- 
et's wives what ye have occasion for, ask it of them from be- 
hind a curtain. This will be more pure for your hearts, and 
for their hearts. Neither is it fit for you to give any uneasi- 
ness to the apostle of God, or to marry his wives after him 
forever; for this would be a grievous thing in the sight of 
God."* 

When Ayesha returned, seated upon Safwan's camel, she 
won Mohammed's belief in her protestations of innocence. 
But the Prophet found that evil tongues were not stopped 
from speaking against the woman who, after the death of 
Khadijahjhad the strongest and most enduring hold upon his 
affections. He resorted therefore, as was usual with him in 
any personal difficulty, to revelation ; and in a Sura which, as 
I have before said, was introduced as specially " sent down 
from heaven," he promulgated a new law for the punishment 
of Ayesha's enemies. " Those," says the Koran, in the 24th 
Sura, " who accuse women, and produce not four witnesses 
of the fact, scourge them with fourscore stripes, and never 
more receive their testimony, for such are infamous prevari- 
cators. .... As to the party among you who have published 
the falsehood concerning Ayesha, . . . .every man of them shall 
be punished according to the injustice of which he hath been 



* Sale's "Al Koran." 



484 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. 

guilty." And according to this ex jjost facto law, those who 
spread the scandal — Abd'allah Ebn Obba, Zeid Ebn Refaa, 
Hassan Ebn Thabet, Mesta Ebn Othatha, and Hanna Bint Ja- 
bash — all received fourscore stripes, except Abd'allah, who 
was too considerable a person to be beaten, even by the au- 
thority of the Koran. On this occasion Mohammed jjro- 
pounded, by way of the Koran, one of the very few laws 
which pretend to be equitable in the relations of polygamous 
husband and wife. "They," he dictated in the same Sura, 
" who shall accuse their wives of adultery, and shall have no 
witnesses thereof besides themselves ; the testimony which 
shall be required of one of them shall be, that he swear four 
times by God that he speaketh the truth, and the JBfth time 
that he imprecate the curse of God on him if he be a liar. 
And it shall avert the punishment from the wife, if she swear 
four times by God that he is a liar; and if the fifth time she 
imprecate the wrath of God on her if he speaketh the truth."* 
Islam is adverse to civilization; the Koran is not "suffi- 
ciently elastic in expression to admit of progressive develop- 
ments and interpretations," because it is a religion essentially 
opposed to the progress of humanity. It is a religion of force 
and of sex. "The true servants of God," says the Koran, 
concerning the Mohammedan heaven, will be rewarded with 
"delicious fruits, and the virgins of paradise withholding 
their countenance from any other than their spouses, having 
large black eyes, and skin like the eggs of an ostrich." The 
coarse materialism of this, and many other passages almost 
similar in words, together with other passages I have quoted 
bearing upon the relations of Islam with infidels, sustain Mr. 
Gladstone's description of the Turks, of whom, in his eloquent 
pamphlet, he says, " For the guide of this life they had a re- 
lentless fatalism ; for its reward hereafter, a sensual paradise." 

* Sale's "Al Koran." 



THE MOHAMMEDAN PARADISE. 485 

This iinspiritual, sexual language of the Koran has been 
dealt with by an English apologist in a very shallow argu- 
ment. The writer of "Mohammed and Mohammedanism" 
clearly knows nothing whatever of Oriental people. He would 
probably be surprised, as well as shocked, to find that among 
the superior classes the conversation is of this character, even 
in the presence of women and children. It is a hard fact, 
that no higher ideal of supernatural hfe is given in the Koran ; 
and the grossness of the picture is, we are told, explained by 
Mohammedans to be merely " Oriental imagery." This might 
seem plausible at a distance, if the programme of Moham- 
med's heaven included entertainments for women — if for them 
there were something more than bare admission. They are 
not even translated into the "black-eyed virgins" who are to 
share the fruits and the couches of paradise ; for, says the 
Koran, " We have created the damsels of paradise by a pe- 
culiar creation." 

It is not my purpose to contrast one religion with another. 
I am not engaged in the defense of Christianity, nor in the 
needless work of vindicating its superiority to Islam; yet it 
is with a feeling of offense that I find in the work above men- 
tioned the heaven of Mohammed contrasted with the heaven 
of Christ, " where they neither marry, nor are given in mar- 
riage;" and the sensual hereafter of Mohammed condoned 
with the absurd apology, that " a polygamous people could 
hardly have pictured to themselves a heaven without polyga- 
my." The raiso7i cVetre of women on earth, in the eyes of 
Mohammedans, has been translated so faithfully and truly 
into their heaven as to lead many to suppose that the Koran 
allows no future life to women. But evidently the denial of 
a share of paradise to women was not the idea of the dic- 
tator of the Koran. He constructed heaven as he observed 
the earth, and has therefore, not without show of reason, been 
held to have denied the immortality of women, while extolling 



486 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

that of men. If all the Turcophiles in the world tug togeth- 
er at the words of the Koran, they can not be exj^anded, or 
reasonably interpreted, so as to exhibit an equality of divine 
favor to men and women. 

When Mohammed grew strong, he became the relentless 
persecutor, the cruel exterminator, of the Jewish tribes in the 
neighborhood of Medina. But the early Suras of the Koran 
suggest that there was a time when he labored to stand well 
with the Jews, and with those of them who had become 
Christians, or who honored Jesus Christ as a great prophet. 
Mohammed relieved the Jews from the crime of Clirist's 
crucifixion. He caused this to be written in the Koran : 
"They have said, * Verily we have slain Jesus, the Son of 
Mary, the apostle of God,' yet they slew him not, neither 
crucified him, but he was represented by one in his likeness. 
They did not really kill him, but God took him up to himself, 
and God is mighty and wise."* Christianity was becoming 
a considerable power in the time of Mohammed ; and so far 
as he understood the doctrines of Christ, he adopted them. 
But it never occurred to Mohammed that Jesus Christ was 
God. He acknowledged the birth of Christ as miraculous. 
The version of the birth of Christ given in the Koran is said 
to have been obtained from the writings of the Apostle Bar- 
nabas. It is very curious : " We sent our spirit Gabriel unto 
her, and he appeared unto her in the shape of a perfect man. 
He said, 'Verily I am the messenger of thy Lord, and am 
sent to give thee a holy son.' The pains of childbirth came 
upon her near the trunk of an old palm-tree. She said, 
' Would to God I had died before this, and had become a 
thincc forsiotten and lost in oblivion !' And a voice called to 
her: 'Be not grieved now that God hath provided a rivulet 
under thee; and do thou shake the body of the palm-tree, 

* Sale's "Al Koran." 



MIRACLES OF CHRIST IN THE KORAN. 487 

and it shall let fall ripe dates upon thee, and eat and drink, 
and calm thy mind.' And when she brought the child to her 
own people, and they said, ' Thou hast done a strange thing,' 
she made signs to the child to answer them ; and they said, 
*How shall we speak to him, who is an infant in the cradle?' 
Whereupon the child said, ^ Verily I am the servant of God ; 
he hath given me the book of the Gospel, and hath appointed 
me a prophet. And he hath made me blessed wheresoever 
I shall be, and hath commanded me to observe prayer and to 
give alms so long as I shall live. And he hath made me 
dutiful toward my mother, and hath not made me proud nor 
unhappy. And peace be on me the day whereon I Avas born, 
and the day w^hereon I shall die, and the day Avhereon I shall 
be raised to life. This was Jesus, the son of Mary." And 
again : "Verily Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, is the Apostle 
of God, and his word which he conveyed into Mary, and a 
spirit proceeding from him." " God " speaks again and again 
in the Koran of the "evident miracles" which he permitted 
Jesus to work; but the Koran never leans to the doctrine 
that Christ is God. "They are infidels who say, ' Verily God 
is Christ, the son of Mary.' " "And when God shall say unto 
Jesus at the last day, ' O Jesus, son of Mary, hast thou said 
unto men. Take me and my mother for two gods beside God ?' 
he shall answer, 'I have not spoken unto them any other than 
what thou didst command me — namely, Worship God, my 
Lord and your Lord.' "* 

An English school leans to Islam because it is monotheistic ; 
they touch gently on its faults for the sake of its assertion of 
the unity of God. Perhaps Ave should have fewer exhibitions 
of this sort if it were generally known that, while denying 
the Godhead of Christ, the Koran accepts his miraculous con- 
ception and birth ; and, denying that he Avas crucified, holds 



* Sale's "Al Koran." 



488 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

to his miracles, and declares that those miracles were an ex- 
liibition of divine powers. We must recognize the fact that 
to write upon the history and the influence of religions, one 
upon another, in a way to be of permanent value, something 
more is requisite than is displayed by any of the apologists 
of Mohammedanism Avhoni w^e have met with. When one of 
these writes of an " elastic " Bible, and of " stretching " the 
Koran, toward what line is it that these sacred books are to 
be strained? Religion, it seems, is to be made to fit in with 
civilization. 

If we want to understand whetlier there is any thing in 
Islam opposed to this union with civilization, we must know 
what we mean by one and by the other. We have now seen 
something of the doctrines of Islam. What, then, is civiliza- 
tion ? If it were merely buying iron-clads, laying down tele- 
graph-wires, borrowing money upon worthless paper, building 
with glass and iron, or arming men with breech-loaders, I 
should say,. " Islam has done all these things." But I take 
civilization to be, in its briefest meaning, the extension of 
civil rights — the co-existence of the supremacy of law with 
the liberty of individuals to develop and employ their facul- 
ties for their own utmost happiness and advantage. 

The sum of success in this endeavor is ever increasing. 
We know more truly than we can know any other thing that 

"Through the nges one increasing purpose runs;" 

and we have in this fact, in the increasing individuality of 
mankind, in what we call progress or civilization, a test by 
which to judge the doctrines of religion, whether they be 
transient or eternah Of the facts which the history of the 
world has furnished, no one is more patent than the fact and 
the method of human progress, in which many religions have 
been, and will be, submerged. Mankind is outgrowing, or has 
outgrown, the practices of slavery and polygamy which are 



MOHAMMEDANISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 489 

sanctioned by the Koran, and which did not seem hateful in 
the days of Christ. The experiences of life lead to the laws 
of life, which are necessarily more and more concerned with 
the rights of individuals. Of the Book of Mohammed, noth- 
ing is left, in the light of the present civilization, but the idea 
of God, supreme, omnipotent, impersonal. It is not so with 
the words of Christ. His standard — that of the brotherhood 
of mankind— is the banner of the time to come, and gives the 
largest prospect of progress which eyes can see upon the ho- 
rizon of humanity. 

The Christians of Turkey are often dishonest, not seldom 
drunken ; and though not inferior to the people of Russia in 
political capacity, are in this respect far beneath the level of 
any other European people. But theirs are vices and defi- 
ciencies such as ages of oppression by a foreign soldiery (the 
Turks are such to them) would produce anywliere. They 
have had no instruction — no consolation, except from priests 
as ignorant as themselves. The extolled virtues of the Turk 
are those which have ever been exhibited by conquerors in 
the plenitude of supremacy above millions who toil to make 
their wealth, such as a foreigner would have seen in the An- 
glo-N^ormans eight hundred years ago. 

In Mohammedan countries, where there is no interference 
by civilized powers, we have seen that a convert to Chris- 
tianity forfeits his property upon application to the Sheik-ul- 
Islam by the next of kin. In the present year, an Armenian 
Christian of rank postponed his visit to a royal personage on 
account of wet weather. I asked him what connection the 
humidity of the atmosphere had with his intention, and he 
said that non-Mussulmans were not welcome; the tradition 
from the times when they were forbidden to walk the streets 
in wet weather — in order that Islam might avoid the supe- 
rior power of contamination which their garments acquired 
by moisture — being not yet quite forgotten. It is not true 

21* 



490; THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. 

that the non-Mussulman population has a nionoj)oly of intem- 
perance. I have never seen people drink ardent spirits in 
such large quantities as some Mohammedans of station whom 
I have met with in travel. A Moslem prince lately asked me 
why I drank wine. " It does not make you drunk. I take 
arrack," he added. English doctors in the East are frequent- 
ly summoned to cases of delirium tremens, but 

"Oflfense's gilded hand doth shove bj justice." 

The rich Moslem drinks privately, the non-Mussulman pub- 
licly. The Moslem drinks at night, the non-Mussulman at all 
times. Perhaps a majority of Mohammedans would refuse 
to drink intoxicating liquor; though in a troop of servants 
I have never seen more than a respectable minority of this 
mind ; and it is possible — indeed it is probable — that of the 
poor, many believe the Koran to be as inexorable as our 
Good Templars. The belief is common throughout Europe 
that the use of intoxicating liquors is forbidden in the Ko- 
ran. The author of "Mohammed and Mohammedanism" 
falls into this error. He says that Mohammed absolutely 
prohibited gambling and intoxicating liquors. The Prophet 
did nothing of the sort in the Koran. The words of the 
Moslem Bible are these: "They will ask thee concerning 
wine and lots \_al inelser\ Answer, In both there is great 
sin, and also some things of use unto men ; but their sinful- 
ness is greater than their use."* I should suppose that even 
Mr. Bass would go as far as this. It is, however, the belief of 
pious Moslems that when Omar demanded from the Prophet 
direction more definite, in order that a better condition might 
be maintained among the then encompassed army of Islam, 
Mohammed did in some terms forbid gambling and the drink- 
ing of intoxicating liquors ; but this prohibition was never 

* Sale's "Al Koran." 



SUPEKIOEITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 491 

made part of the Koran. In Mohammed's paradise we find 
the apotheosis of Bacchus. Youths in perpetual bloom are 
to attend the happy " with goblets, and beakers, and cups of 
flowing wine; their heads shall not ache by drinking the 
same, neither shall their reason be disturbed." The "black- 
eyed damsels" are again introduced, and the promise is giv- 
en to the men in j^aradise, " They shall not hear vain dis- 
course, or charge of sin, but only the salutation, * Peace ! 
peace !' " As to gambling, Mohammedans play cards upon 
the sands of the desert, as well as upon the decks of ships, 
and on the carpets and mats of their homes. 

But I have made ill use of the present opportunity if I 
have induced upon the mind of the reader an impression 
very favorable to the Christians of Turkey and Persia. For 
this much I am always prepared to contend : they do pos- 
sess, and their masters do not possess, a religion which ad- 
mits of progressive developments and interpretations. The 
progress of humanity may for all time be illumined by the 
morals of the Gospel of Christ. It is nothing to show that 
Mohammedanism is more successful in proselytizing Eastern 
peoples than the harshly dogmatic, un-Christian " Christian- 
ity" of some dogmatic preachers. We may develop and in- 
terpret Christ's teaching as universal, for all sorts and con- 
ditions of men, and without distinction of sex. The purest 
doctrines of liberty entered the world by the mouth of Christ. 
Mohammedanism is a democracy for men — and not for all 
men, but only for such as are not slaves ; and with these last 
and lowest the whole sex of women is placed. The religion 
of Islam is incompatible with progress, and must decline with 
the advance of civilization. 




THE END aecEiveo. ^it 



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Motley, LL.D., D.C.L. Illustrated. In 2 vols., Svo, Cloth, $7 00. 

MYERS'S REMAINS OF LOST E:\IPIRES. Remains of Lost Empires: Sketches 
of the Rains of Palmyra, Nineveh, Babylon, aud Persepolis, with some Notes 
on India and the Cashmerian Himalayas. By P. V. N. Myeks. Illustrated. 
Svo, Cloth, $3 50. 

NORDHOFF'S COMMUNISTIC SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
The Communistic Societies of the United States, from Personal Visit and Ob- 
servation ; including Detailed Accounts of the Economists, Zoarites, Shakers, 
the Amana, Oneida, Bethel, Aurora, Icarian, and other existing Societies. 
With Particulars of their Religious Creeds and Practices, their Social Theories 
and Life, Numbers, Industries, aud Present Condition. By Cuakles Nohduoff. 
Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $4 00. 

RAWLINSON'S MANUAL OF ANCIENT HISTORY. A Manual of Ancient 
History, from the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Western Empire. Com- 
prising the History of Chaldsea, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Lydia, Phoenicia, 
Syria, Judiiea, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Greece, Macedonia, Parthia, and Rome. 
By Geotige RawYinson, M.'A., Camden Professor of Ancient History in the 
University of Oxford. 12mo, Cloth, $1 T5. 

RECLUS'S EARTH. The Earth : a Descriptive History of the Phenomena of the 
Life of the Globe. By Eltsee Reot.us. With 234 Maps aud Illustrations, and 
23 Page Maps printed in Colors. Svo, Cloth, $5 00. 

RECLUS'S OCEAN. The Ocean, Atmosphere, and Life. Being the Second Series 
of a Descriptive History of the Life of the Globe. By firasEK Reci.us. Pro- 
fusely Illustrated with 250 Maps or Figures, and 2T Maps printed in Colors. 
Svo, Cloth, $6 00. 

SCHWEINFURTH'S HEART OF AFRICA. The Heart of Africa. Three Years' 
Travels and Adventures in the Unexplored Regions of the Centre of Africa. 
From 1S6S to ISTl. By Dr. Geokg Scuweinftjiith. Translated by Em.kn E. 
Frewee. With an Introduction by Winwoot> Reade. Illustrated by about 
130 Woodcuts from Drawings made by the Author, aud with two Maps. 2 vols., 
Svo, Cloth, $8 00. 

SHAKSPEARE. The Dramatic Works of William Shakspearc. With Correc- 
tions and Notes. Engravings. G vo.h., 12mo, Cloth, $9 00. 2 vols., Svo, 
Cloth, $t 00. 



6 Vahiable and Interesti7ig Works for Public and Private Libraries, 

SMILES'S HISTORY OF THE HUGUENOTS. The Hugueuots : their Settle- 
ments, Churches, and Indnstries in England and Ireland, By Samukl Smit.es. 
M^itli au Appendix relating to tlie Huguenots in America. Crown 8vo, Cloth, 
$2 00. 

SMILES'S HUGUENOTS AFTER THE REVOCATION. The Huguenots iu 
France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; with a Visit to the 
Country of the Vaudois. By SaiMuel Smiles. Crown Svo, Cloth, $2 00. 

SMILES'S LIFE OF THE STEPHENSONS. The Life of George Stephenson, 
and of his Son, Robert Stephenson ; comprising, also, a History of the In- 
vention and Introduction of the Railway Locomotive. By Samuel Smiles. 
With Steel Portraits and numerous Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $3 00. 

STRICKLAND'S (Miss) QUEENS OF SCOTLAND. Lives of the Queens of 
Scotland And English Princesses connected with the Regal Succession of 
Great Britain. By Agnes Steicklani). S vols., 12mo, Cloth, $12 00. 

THE STUDENT'S SERIES. With Maps and Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00 

per volume. 

Feanoe. — GimsoN. — Greece. — Heme. — Rome (by LiunELL). — 0lt> Testament 
History. — New Testament History. — Stricklani>'8 Queens op England 
(Abridged). — Ancient Histoey op the East. — Hallam's Middle Ages. 
. — Hallam's Constitutional History of England.^Lvell's Elements 
of Geology. — Merivale's General History op Rome. — Cox's General 
History o:>' Greece. — Classical Dictionary. 

TENNYSON'S COMPLETE POEMS. The Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, 
Poet Laureate. Witli numerous Illustrations by Eminent Artists, and Three 
Characteristic Portraits. Svo, Paper, $1 00 ; Cloth, $1 50. 

THOMSON'S LAND AND THE BOOK. The Land and the Book; or, Biblical 
Illustrations drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and the Scen- 
ery of the Holy Land. By W. M. Thomson, D.D., Twenty-five Years a Mis- 
sionary of the A.B.C.F.M. in Syria and Palestine. With two elaborate Maps 
of Palestine, an accurate Plan of Jerusalem, and several hundred Engravings, 
representing the Scenery, Topography, aiid Productions of the Holy Land, 
and the Costumes, Manners, and Habits of the People. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, 
$5 00. 

VAN-LENNEP'S BIBLE LANDS. Bible Lands: their Modern Customs and 
Manners Illustrative of Scripture. By the Rev. Henry J. Van-Lennep, D.D. 
Illustrated with upward of 350 Wood Engravings and two Colored Maps. 
838 pp., Svo, Cloth, $5 00 ; Sheep, $6 GO; Half Morocco, $S 00. 

VINCENT'S LAND OF THE W^HITE ELEPHANT. The Land of the White 
Elephant: Sights and Scenes in Southeastern Asia. A Personal Narrative 
of Travel and Adventure in Farther India, embracing the Countries of Bur- 
ma, Siam, Cambodia, and Cochin -China (lSTl-2). By Frank Vincent, Jr. 
Illustrated with Maps, Plans, and Woodcuts. Crown Svo, Cloth, $3 50. 

WALLACE'S GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. The Geo- 
graphical Distribution of Animals. With a Study of the Relations of Living 
and Extinct Faunas as Elucidating the Past Changes of the Earth's Surface. 
By Alfred Russel Wallace. With Maps and Illustrations. In 2 vols., Svo, 
Cloth, $10 00. 

WALLACE'S MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. The Malay Archipelago: the Land of 
the Orang-Utan and the Bird of Pai'adise. A Narrative of Travel, 1S.T.4-1SG2. 
With Studies of Man and Nature. By Alfred Russel Wallack. With Ten 
Maps and Fifty-one Elegant Illustrations. Crown Svo, Cloth, $2 50. 

WHITE'S MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW. The Massacre of St. Bar- 
tholomew: Preceded by a History of the Religious Wars in the Reign of 
Charles IX. By Henry W^hite, M.A. With Illustrations. Crown Svo, Cloth, 
$1 75. 

WOOD'S HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. Homes Without Hands : being a Descrip- 
tion of the Habitations of Animals, classed according to their Princij)le of Con- 
struction. By J. G. W^ooD, M.A., F.L.S. Illustrated. Svo, Cloth, $4 50. 

YONGE'S LIFE OF MARIE ANTOINETTE. The Life of Marie Antoinette, 
Queen of France. Bv Chakles Dukk Yonge, Regius Profes«or of Modern 
History and English Literature in Queen's College, Belfast. With Portrait. 
Crown Svo, Cloth, $2 50. 



Valuable and Interesting Works for Public and Private Libraries. 7 



TYERMAN'S WESLEY. The Life and Times of tlie Rev. John Wesley, M.A., 
Founder of the Methodists. By theRev. LukeTyeeman. Portraits. 3 vols., 
8vo, Cloth, %l 50. 

TYERMAN'S OXFORD METHODISTS. The Oxford Methodists: Memoirs of 
the Rev. Messrs. Clayton, Ingham, Gambold, Hervey, and Broiightou, with 
Biographical Notices of others. By the Rev. L. Tyekman. With Portraits. 
8vo, Cloth, $2 50. 

VAMB^RY'S central ASIA. Travels in Central Asia. Being the Account 
of a Journey from Teheren across the Turkoman Desert, on the Eastern 
Shore of the Caspian, to Khiva, Bokhara, and Samarcand, performed in the 
Year 1S33. By Arminius Vamberv, Member of the Hungarian Academy of 
Pesth, by whom he was sent on this Scientific Mission. With Map and 
Woodcuts. 8vo, Cloth, $4 50. 

POETS OP THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. The Poets of the Nineteenth 
Century. Selected and Edited by the Rev. Robert Aris Willmott. With 
Eno-lish and American Additions, arranged by Evkrt A. Duyckinck, Editor 
of '"cyclopaedia of American Literature." Comprising Selections from the 
Greatest Authors of the Age. Superbly Illustrated with 141 Engravings from 
Designs by the most Eminent Artists. In Elegant small 4to form, printed on 
Superfine Tinted Paper, richly bound in extra Cloth, Beveled, Gilt Edges, 
$5 00 ; Half Calf, $5 50 ; Full Turkey Morocco, |9 00. 

THE REVISION OF THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THR NEW TESTAMENT. 
With an Introduction by the Rev. P. Scuaff, D.D. G18 pp., Crown 8vo, Cloth, 
$3 00. 

This work embraces in one volume : 
I ON A FRESH REVISION OF THE ENGLISH NEW TESTAMENT. By 
J. B. LrouTFOOT, D.D., Canon of St. Paul's, and Hulsen Professor of Divini- 
ty, Cambridge. Second Edition, Revised. 196 pp. 

II. ON THE AUTHORIZED VERSION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT in Con- 
nection with some Recent Proposals for its Revision. By Ricuard Cue- 
NEVix Trench, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. 194 pp. 

Ill CONSIDERATIONS ON THE REVISION OF THE ENGLISH VERSION 
OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. By C. J. Ellioott, D.D., Bishop of 
Gloucester and Bristol. ITS pp. 

DRAKE'S NOOKS AND CORNERS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. Nooks 
and Corners of the New England Coast. By Samtjet. Adajis Deakk, Author 
of" Old Landmarks of Boston," "Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex," 
&c. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50. 

NORDHOFF'S CALIFORNIA. California : for Health, Pleasure, and Residence. 
A Book for Travellers and Settlers. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. 

NORDHOFF'S NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, OREGON, AND THE SANDWICH 
ISLANDS. Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands. By 
CuARLEs NoRimoFF. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. 

THE DESERT OF THE EXODUS. Journeys on Foot in the Wilderness of the 
Forty Years' -Wanderings ; undertaken in connection with the Ordnance 
Survey of Sinai and the Palestine Exploration Fund. By E. H. Pat.mer, M.A., 
Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic, and Fellow of St. John's College, Cam- 
bridge. With Maps and numerous Illustrations from Photographs and Draw- 
inf^8°taken on the spot by the Sinai Survey Expedition and C. F. Tyrwhitt 
Dnike. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $3 00, 

EARTH'S NORTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA. Travels and Discoveries in North 
and Central Africa: being a Journal of an Expedition undertaken under the 
Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the Years 1849-1S55. By Henry Bartu, 
Ph.D., D.C.L. Illustrated. 3 vols., Svo, Cloth, $12 00. 

LYMAN BEECHER'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, &c. Autobiography, Correspond- 
ence, &c., of Lyman Beecher, D.D. Edited by his Son, Cuarles Beecuer. 
With Three Steel Portraits, and Engravings on Wood. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, 
$5 00. 



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